Profile: Emit Bloch, musician

Who is Emit Bloch?

A country bluesmen, claiming to be descended from cowboys, railmen and slumlords, whose music is so lo-fi he makes Seasick Steve sound like Eric Clapton.

What's the story?

Bloch was born on a ranch in Utah, but moved to Berkeley, California as a teenager, where he received some guitar tuition from fretboard virtuoso Joe Satriani. However, his musical influences are more in the classic country-folk vein of Woody Guthrie and Hank Williams by way of Bob Dylan, while his droll lyrics have the comic immediacy of Jonathan Richman and Jeffrey Lewis.

He ain't singing no credit crunch blues?

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When Bloch relocated to London, he demoed some songs on a dictaphone in his kitchen at an estimated cost of 6. The demos turned out better than any studio recording so they have been released instead. Consequently, his new album, Dictaphones Vol. 1, costs more to buy than it did to record.

What are other folks saying?

"Like Alan Lomax's ancient field recordings with bathetic contemporary references" – Uncut "As the world falls to bits, he is a fantastic soundtrack to the madness" – Alan McGee

Where can I hear more? www.myspace.com/emitblochcountry

• Dictaphones Vol. 1 is out now on One Little Indian.

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