Babysue

The familiar little Team Clermont promo sticker on this CD compares Taylor Hollingsworth to Flat Duo Jets, The Black Keys, and The White Stripes which gives a good indication of the sound of the tunes. But in our minds, the songs on Bad Little Kitty are even more reminiscent of artists like The Young Fresh Fellows and T. Rex. This is a very basic album. A very, very, very, very basic album featuring familiar sounding garage pop rockers. But while it might be easy to just dismiss this as more of the same...there is one big difference between the songs on this album and the songs on millions of other albums. These songs are, quite simply, damn good. Sure, we'll all heard this kind of music before...bit in this instance it is played with such genuine excitement that you can't help but move to the music. This album may very well get lost in the shuffle of the ultra-dull times we're living in. If so, that would be a damn shame because these nineteen tracks are totally cool and credible. Top picks: "10 Good Reasons," "Where Is My Soul," "I'm Dead," "Bad Little Kitty." (Rating: 5+)

Performer Magazine

Any trepidation felt upon hearing “Formal Greeting by Mr. Taylor Hollingsworth,” the silly-talking, opening cut from Hollingsworth’s otherwise brilliant third CD Bad Little Kitty, was quickly alleviated five seconds into the first real song: the instant classic “Damn Boy (What’s Wrong With You),” a tune that may one day stand alongside “Louie, Louie” or “All Day and All of the Night” as a model of the three-chord garage-rock archetype. Hollingsworth and his rockin’ rhythm section (Macey Taylor on bass and Brian Gosdin on drums) stomp their way through song after song played with such verve, reverence and chutzpah that the listener forgives and forgets that this type of simple, feel-good rock ‘n’ roll has been played for the better part of half a century. Hollingsworth and his band edify how energizing, life-affirming and just plain fun straightforward rock songs about girls, drinking, and murder (!) can be. The majority of the CD’s songs are fuzz-guitar fueled, foot-stompin’, party-friendly sing-alongs but this Birmingham, Al.-based bundle of talent is no onetrick pony. He shows a sensitive side as well on slower, acoustic songs like “In the Dark,” “You Don’t Treat Me Like a Man” and the jarringly beautiful “Christmas Blues” featuring the lovely voice of Azure Ray alum Maria Taylor. And with song titles like “Ride the Flaming Bull of Fire” (a scorching instrumental) and “TNT & Dynamite” (which contains the lyrics, “You better leave the room / Because I might blow up KABOOM”), Hollingsworth displays a refreshing sense of humor (track number one notwithstanding). CDs like Bad Little Kitty truly warm an old man’s heart knowing that there exists such a worthy carrier as Taylor Hollingsworth of the garage rock torch. (Mass Music)

Vox

I started doing some preliminary work on Noah and the Whale as the press material lists their album being available today, July 29th, but upon checking their record label, it lists September 16th.

So while we put that album on hold, we have another album that's out today called Bad Little Kitty by Taylor Hollingsworth. That release date is dubious, as it seems Amazon had it listed since April.

Conor "Bright Eyes" Oberst seems to have taken a liking to Hollingsworth, but to be honest, the first time I really pay attention was when his music gear were all stolen this year (July 10th), while on tour with Maria Taylor. Taylor also had her stuff stolen. I think every year I read about these type of robberies - so bands, please heed caution! Try not to leave your favorite guitar in a van, instead take it with you in your hotel room.

What I really like about Hollingsworth is that his songs are very charged. It comes off as sounding like T-Rex and The Raveonettes, with some southern rock (he is after all from Alabama), like The White Stripes. Maybe it's just me, but I felt that these songs weren't mixed, instead, it sounds like it was recorded with one-take and live. The sound is often, it's hard to describe it, I guess it sounds "raw". It's good times, rock and roll, regardless.

Here's a few of the songs I thought stood out for me: "Christmas Blues", featuring a woman singing on this. The MP3 that was offered to me didn't include any liner notes, so I don't know who worked on each song. The harmonic duet (if you can call it that?), was a nice break in the middle of the album from all the rock.

"Assassinate The President" a fast-driving song, with it's catchy "assassinate the president" (as the music pause a moment). Like many of his songs, they have a familiar feel to them, like something from early 50s rock.

"I'm Concerned" sounds like it was stolen from Marc Bolan, there's just something in the guitar playing and vocals. If you don't believe me, you can download the song from his website.

My favorite song on this album is "Damn Boy (What's Wrong With You)", which you can also download for free on his website. This short, fun song sounds like his biography, always causing trouble.

Since the robbery, I haven't seen any new additional tour dates, but I'll be sure to keep you inform on future dates. Check with site for more details. Bad Little Kitty is out now, at the usual online locations.

Perfect Porridge

We got our grubby hands on Taylor Hollingsworth’s newest album, Bad Little Kitty, today and are pleased to find someone else who likes to go three weeks without a shower.

Dirty? Gritty? Well, yeah. But in a GOOD way.

The three tracks below showcase the Birmingham blues-punk writer’s chops across multiple genres — folk, 70s sneer rock and naturally, 12 bar blues.

You’ll might have caught Hollingsworth on Maria Taylor’s nationwide tour that wraps today and you’ll be hearing him on Conor Oberst’s forthcoming Merge solo debut, but don’t hold that against him. Showers are optional in Omaha, too.

Anyone's Guess

The promo materials compare hollingsworth's forthcoming album bad little kitty to, um, nacho cheese: "completely amazing, satisfying and dirty as hell." probably not how we would have put it, but, we suppose, still something of an effective description for this fuzzy, lo-fi southern garage rock with equal parts attitude & humor. in other words, we pretty much dig it.

Blurt!

Taylor Hollingsworth’s in-jokes—like launching your third album with the most obnoxious rock-dork introduction you could imagine—can get a little annoying. But get past the shit-eating-grin persona and you’ll find a strong blues-punk album that combines the brattiness of the Black Lips with the southern-rock jams of old-school Molly Hatchet. The Birmingham-born rabble-rouser, who has played with 13ghosts, Maria Taylor, and Conor Oberst, writes riffs like dirty jokes, but these songs have real wit. “Damn Boy (What’s Wrong with You),” which has the inevitably of a theme song, slyly rewrites the Georgia Satellites’ “Keep Your Hands to Yourself” as a loser’s anthem that’s even more sordid and surly. And “TNT & Dynamite” is the running-naked-in-the-yard bastard child of Southern Culture on the Skids and Jon Spencer. But “You Don’t Treat Me Like a Man” cuts through the humor to find a kernel of real heartache, and “Christmas Blues” manages to sound actually kinda pretty. For God’s sake, though, skip that introduction and just delete “Bad Little Kitty,” whose pop-metal rave-up doesn’t make up for the full-minute of Hollingsworth repeating the album title and distorting his voice. Dork.

Black & White

He hasn't gotten the attention he deserves, which might account for Taylor Hollingsworth's "Assassinate the President" on his new album, Bad Little Kitty. At least it won't be hard to convince the Secret Service that the whole idea is a poorly conceived gag.

That's the only filler on this album, though, which is pretty impressive for 19 songs at under 50 minutes. Hollingsworth has been indulging his eccentricities inside the studio, and he's moved past the reliable backwoods garage rock that first made him a minor big deal. Now his ragged talents can be applied to classic album-oriented rock ("Ride the Flaming Bull of Fire" is worthy of Rick Derringer) and left-of-the dial quirkiness ("Central City" is worthy of any fictional '80s college rock act that was as good as Rick Derringer).

Hollingsworth remains a whiny li'l punk-folkie, too, like when "Christmas Blues" runs on meth fumes as a Simon & Garfunkel tribute.

Creative Loafing

Hollingsworth served some time in the late-model version of Verbena, and his music exhibits similar appeal: Jagged peals of guitar chime with Stonesy rawk swagger and a garage-glam strut over a feckless, whiskey-soaked vocal sneer. There's a coiled, ready-to-strike energy to his music, delivered with coy indifference on the track "Damn Boy What's Wrong With You," sounding like the Georgia Satellites upon re-entry. It's off his forthcoming album, Bad Little Kitty.

WLUR

Think of the White Stripes crossed with Times New Viking, and the result could be something like this hand-clapping countrified rock. "Central City" sounds like a punky Apples in Stereo song, though "Shout it Out" turns to a slightly darker sound. Big thick sound works well with a strong beats and heavy bass.