Skindred ~ Babylon (album review) ... Can you dance to metal?

Style: reggae-metal, rap-metal, hardcore, alt metal
Label: Lava Records
Year: 2002
Home: Wales

Members: Benji Webbe ~ vocals
Daniel Pugsley ~ bass
Mikey Demus, Jeff Rose ~ guitar
Dirty Arya ~ vocals/drums
Martyn Ford ~ drums

Additional: Howard Benson ~ keyboards

Can you dance to metal? I mean, not head bang but sort of really dance ... yes, you sometimes can, if you don't believe me then let me introduce you to Skindred. Though, it's less of a dance & more of a groove a la Rasta, man. Skindred fuse reggae/rap & metal in a joyous marriage & here's your wedding invitation. The problem I've always had with reggae/rap-metal is the metal. Yes, I love my metal, but when I'm going to a non-traditional form it's because I want the non-traditional over the metal. Just rapping lyrics & having little in common with true south of the border reggae doesn't float my boat & I'm looking for something more than reggae as an accessory or a nice gimmick. But, I may have found my elusive fusion band. Skindred's debut Babylon brings together reggae & metal with all the authentic class of Bob Marley, even at times slipping into dub (i.e. "Start First", "Firing the Line"), with absolute vocal prowess & vibrant dancehall-like rhythms against screaming distorted metal guitars & thumping bass in an addicting fusion. For Skindred the reggae dominates in the way I like it & want to hear it, the songs being driven by the vocals not the guitars or a gimmick, & it's not until song nine (i.e. "Tears") that a more traditional sounding metal song first appears. Though sadly the traditional metal takes over for the last six songs making it feel like two albums, one hardcore reggae-metal & one commercially friendly & somewhat indistinct metal with big in your face choruses. So, to correct myself, for the first third of this album I've found my elusive reggae-metal band. I'm a big fan of songwriter/singer Matisyahu who originally fused reggae with Phish-inspired grooves with an ear bending deft skill at pushing reggae into a new territory. At times I hear early Matisyahu here. Actually, I could hear him singing in "World Domination" & taking it for his own with little effort. Sadly, I'm not much of a Matisyahu fan anymore, even though I've seen him three times in concerts & the first one is in my top five concerts ever. I stopped listening as the music lost the outside influences, went more dub influenced pop, more generic & became the last third of this album. Though, I have to say to Skindred's credit that the last third here is far from straight metal, but more like the band experimenting with different fusion styles such as dub & hip-hop, but none are given anything than an accessory gimmick role & the choruses are far too friendly after the onslaught of the earlier part of the album. Though, some metal fans will be put off by the more reggae part of the album & will probably before the last third. But, for the first two thirds this is for fans of Faith No More, Korn, 311, Living Colour, System Of A Down, Bad Brains & should not be ignored just because they may not have the commercial notoriety. While Skindred call themselves ragga metal & jokingly nu-reggae, for those curious.

Meat Loaf ~ Hell In A Handbasket (album review) ... And music to go with it.

Style: hard rock
Year: 2011
Label: Sony
Home: n/a

Members: Meat Loaf ~ vocals
Paul Crook ~ guitar/keyboards/synthesizer/programming
Randy Flowers ~ guitar/b. vocals
Danny Miranda ~ bass
Justin Avery ~ keyboards/b. vocals
Dave Luther ~ saxophone/b. vocals
John Miceli ~ drums
Patti Russo ~ vocals

Additional: Ginny Luke, Caitlin Evanson ~ violin
Glen Duncan ~ mandolin
Bruce Bowden ~ pedal steel
Jerry Flowers ~ b. vocals
Jamie Muhoberac ~ keyboards

Guests: Chuck D ~ rap
Mark McGrath, John Rich, Trace Adkins ~ vocals
Lil Jon ~ rap/drum programming

For fans of the Loaf, which I am, there's a few truths about Meat for those who want to chew: a) the best albums are with Jim Steinman writing, performing, arranging, & b) all other albums tend to have a big epic Steinman-esque hit & a lot of forgettable filler. "All Of Me" is, in my ears, the Steinman wannabe piano ballad without embarrassment on ML's latest album. It has the musical feel of Steinman's complicated arrangements, but it lacks what makes Steinman Steinman - its all about the intricate lyrics that are impossible to sing with a single breathe. This has straight ahead lyrics but stretched out trying to make one word last for four & sound complicated. If one can make the line "all of me" last like "objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are" ML is certainly trying to. While it lacks the long soaring notes that once marked ML's music, as he no longer sings out like he once did - I wonder if he can - but instead gives off a smaller ranged constant annoying warble. Having seen recent live footage of him routinely losing breathe on stage I'm apt to think the decision has been made to avoid anything that will tax him too much. Of course, ML has aged & that can't be avoided ... but I wouldn't be adverse to a little studio trickery to make up for it. Since Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose a cluttered anti-climactic affair that fell more than it climbed, ML has stumbled, but at least the presence of Steinman's words gave him a chance even if it didn't in the end since Steinman didn't want to be involved & after hearing the album his instincts were probably proven right. ML stumbled after first dumping Steinman following the over-produced but still listenable Dead Ringer & stumbled after Bat Out Of Hell II released in 1993, but he was younger & could write off a bad album due to bad label deals or changing music styles. III was an attempt to pull out of the stumbling, but only was a breathing moment. Now, you know, he's desperate to have an album that's successful without Steinman's direct involvement. He wants to show that he can do it on his own & you want him to have that success because when he's good he's amazing. ML & his team knows what music works for him & try to stay within the epic template of highs & lows, even if his voice has lost its range & the lows lack the punch of Steinman's classic ballads. No one has ever been able to really be able to write for ML like Steinman. ML has engaged an array of music to make up for this shortcoming & he's no stranger to experimentation, for better or for embarrassment. Sadly, he's never really been able to find a musical identity that could replace what made him great. It must be a difficult struggle by now to have as many musical facelifts as Madonna but with none catching on. Hell In A Handbasket might be the closest ML has gotten to an overall successful album on his own terms in awhile, certainly compared to his 80's work its far better. Musically its very powerful & very elaborate only occasionally being too cluttered, & is helmed by former Anthrax/Sebastian Bach guitarist Paul Crook whose been by ML's side for many years. But, with ML's voice is now suffering & the warble just doesn't do what the music needs but is a bit painful to listen to. The heights here are all musical. While the lyrics aren't that interesting. The catch with Steinman is the fact that he paints very visual songs. It's poetry, not just songs. These are songs with rhyming. They're songs, not poetic stories. Regular duet partner Patti Russo appears on a few cuts, in true "Paradise By The Dashboard Light" tradition, but these aren't really duets or any sort of real conversation but glorified backing vocals. Speaking of backing vocals a couple songs also feature some rapping & some tv stars. One wouldn't think ML would need a rap break or guests. The world might be going to hell in a handbasket, but so is parts of ML's career yet again. This isn't so bad of an album, it has a few hits & a lots of filler ... but yet again stick with the first two Bat albums & leave the un-batty alone.

The 99% ~ Occupy Bellingham: Local Artists Songs Of Protest, Rebellion & Hope (comp) (album review) ... And, the result is?

Style: folk, alt rock, ska, comedy, protest, rap, experimental
Label: self-released
Year: 2011
Home: Bellingham, Washington

Bands include Ken Stringfellow

Dana Lyons

Pirates R Us

Police Teeth

The Dt's

Boris Budd & The Waterboarders

Keaton Collective

Sher Vadinska

Yogoman Burning Band

Porch Party

Sugar Sugar Sugar

Bob Paltrow

Jan Peters & The Monday Night Project
The Loyal Sinners

Black Eyes & Neck Ties

Kit Nelson

Kris Orlowski

Mostafa

Tim Mechling

stabbin hobo

The Red Umbrellas

Biagio Biondolillo

DJ Einstein

Snug Harbor

Clambake

1985

Jesse Morrow
Enders of Ozone

Reverend Mathew

Acorn Project

The Offshoots

Neptune Skyline

bandZandt

Average Mammal

This massive protest album brings together 34 artists/bands from the small town of Bellingham, Washington, a must watch community of vibrant & new music from across the spectrum that has churned out onto the national scene Dana Lyons, the Posies, Morbid Angel founder Trey Azagthoth, Chris Riffle, Death Cab For Cutie & countless other bands that have glowing west coast reputations. Bellingham is a town known for its protests over the decades ... partially spurred by the dominating presence of the liberal university on the hill, also spurred by the isolated location allowing a bit more personal freedom for the unsocially minded, while the town is the last major stop on the way from Seattle to Vancouver, Canada that has been a stop off for beatniks, hippies & was even under the radar as a potential target on 9/11. Ironically, it's motto is 'the city of subdued excitement'. In the recent Wall Street based 99% movement Bellingham may have had more stand-ups against the police & protests than Manhattan, the home of the movement, & certainly has sparked community wide attention while in Manhattan the past social upheavals are now just part of another day of old news. Bringing the spirit of protest to an album this collection, credited to the 99%, it includes a few famous faces such as Ken Stringfellow of Big Star/Posies/R.E.M. & acoustic guitarist-songwriter Dana Lyons who became internationally famous for his comical vegetarian anthem "Cows With Guns". Alongside these two is an array of more regionally & locally musicians that span the musical spectrum from new & old styles of folk (i.e. Sher Vadinska, Tim Mechling, Porch Party, The Red Umbrellas, Biagio Biondolillo, 1985, Kit Nelson, Kris Orlowski, Jan Peters & the Monday Night Project, Reverend Mathew) & Americana bluesy rock (i.e. The DT's, The Loyal Sinners, Jesse Morrow, bandZandt, The Offshoots, Acorn Project) to retro surf (i.e. Clambake), alt rock bands spanning the genre(i.e. Police Teeth, Neptune Skyline, Enders Of Ozone, Black Eyes & Neck Ties, Sugar Sugar Sugar), shoe-gazing prog (i.e. Keaton Collective) to funk (i.e. Average Mammal, Snug Harbor), ska (i.e. Yogoman Burning Band), hip-hop (i.e. Mostafa) & trip-hop (i.e. DJ Einstein). In terms of diversity the collection deserves kudos & it surprisingly flows fairly well with an easy stride, though due to both the musical diversity & the number of artists this can be a bit much for a single listen. In its favor is the fact that it stays mostly away from typical in your face rock aiming instead mostly for the alt rock/blues rock/folk sound that dominates the Bellingham scene leaving the large jazz scene or more experimental or thrashy rock for another protest outing. If there is any disruption it comes in a few poorly recorded live tracks later & a few alt rock bands whose near screaming is unlistenable next to tighter neater folk harmonies, particularly when the vocals are obscured & thus obscuring the message of protest, & one instrumental that has no lyrics or any particular protest feel that is completely out of place. If nothing else this is a wonderful introduction, though far from comprehensive, to a little post-grunge town in the Pacific Northwest that truly could be one of the most important music spots in the region for new talent. & don't worry about too many obscure local references as they are few. For those curious Ken Stringfellow turns in a slow & moody "Everybody Is A Fucking Liar" with only voice & acoustic piano, in the same vein as the Posies, though for those unfamiliar with his band it'll sound more like a moment of cussing just to get attention. Pirates R Us open the album the accordion/violin pirate-esque sea shanty "Sam Walton's Blues" showing this is not going to be a normal listening experience as in this one song is humor, social protest a la such lines as "the streets run red with the blood of rich ... I can steal millions with just a laptop while you're stuck on ship swabbing the deck ... i'd rather be a pirate than a snooty corporate bitch", & no holds bar of what music is going to be featured. It's a great welcome to the show. There's a few comedic folksy rock groups of the same tongue-in-cheek vein as Pirates R Us, including Boris Budd & The Waterboarders, also the producer of the album, with "Conglomeratocracy". Budd & co create intimate music of the coffee house culture & compared to some of the more alt rock songs is a breath of fresh air with its carefully composed lyrics for a listening crowd versus shouts of profanity for a drunken crowd. Cover artist Bob Partlow also turns in a comedic "Stick It", while the always enjoyable king of musical satire Dana Lyons turns in the "WTO Disco" bringing the Bee Gees up to date with Weird Al-esque delight. Stabbin Hobo's "The Last Crusade" is a dark & ethereal hip-hop against an acoustic guitar background with the chorus "We pay for gas" that is some of the more interesting musical fusion on the album. Traditionally, folk music has always been the music of protest a la Guthrie, Dylan, Baez, etc. to be later taken up with hippie groups like Jefferson Airplane, & folks-esque Country Joe McDonald, Richie Havens, before heavy metal became the music of angst. But, folk still remains the standard of the protest song as the vocals are the focus over the music. Though, perhaps its the plethora of folk music in our culture but the comedic songs here seem to jump out of the mix the fastest & have the biggest impact re the message & might be the future of protest music ... hitting home with laughter. While the few funk bands come in second place, albeit only because there's less funk than comedy in this collection. As this collection is about a message the message needs to be mentioned. According to the press release this album "salutes & celebrates the 99% in their pursuit of equality, which is the one word that summarizes the different, viable & important issues that people are working through by using the power of peaceful gatherings & demonstrations, fostering education & awareness." It's hard to say if all of this is in here musically or lyrically, while some songs don't feel that much like social protest songs ... but just the fact that all these musicians gave their permission to be included is enough. They've got solidarity if not in the message then in the desire to be a part of the message. Further, this album has been released on bandcamp "free for the 99% ... it costs $1,000,000 for the 1%."

A Broken Code ~ Retribution For The Afflicted (album review) ... Do the afflicted count as the listeners of this album?

Style: ska, hip-hop, rap, metal
Label: self-released
Year: 2011
Home: Brooklyn, New York

Members: Ricardo Jones ~ drums
Nathaniel Daley, Lior Rachmany, Alroy Teves ~ guitars
Jenko ~ vocals
Ansa Gory ~ basss
Mansa Gory ~ horns/bass

Additional: Adam Halfi, Shane Jones ~ drums
Kevin Edell ~ horns

Guest: Neycha, Halo The Young Pharaoh, Nello Player, Jules Vasquez, Suicide, Kallyba, Bungo, Meloetry ~ vocals

ABC is one of the more musically challenging metal bands I've come across in awhile. Challenging in terms of both listening & writing about them. They bring together a couple styles of music, one of which I know & the other I enjoy but don't listen to much & am not so familiar with to feel comfortable talking about it more than cursory. So, haven't laid out the small print first ... with some reviews I go into band history & interesting attributes, members, etc, but with ABC I can really only write about my initial feelings & perceptions over a couple spins. Even reading about some of the guests players doesn't necessarily help interpret the new surroundings ABC puts them in & lessen my challenge. But, this is essentially the normal approach I tend to aim for it on this blog, even if I don't always do it, considering that's all anyone is likely to give ABC or any non-world famous band via itunes. Though, ABC is also presenting the mix or fusion of music I wanted to focus on when I first started this blog years ago. I wanted to share the metal that goes beyond the stereotype. The problem is a lot of bands talk the walk or a lot just aren't that good. ABC stomp the walk & are very good. I even went & looked up a couple of the guest singers cause I enjoyed them. ABC calls themselves hip-hop metal. Of course, in music everyone must have a label & labels can made all the difference in the world. A couple years ago I met a solo instrumental rock guitarist who named himself avant-garde instrumental, I said it was metal. He thus adopted metal-ish as he liked my argument & suddenly gained new listeners. A simple word opened his listening base ... & now he's found himself doing soundtrack music. Hip-hop metal is a decent moniker harkening back to Anthrax & Public Enemy. But, the stereotype surrounding it provides no challenges while ABC is full of challenges ... they challenge their own description. If you're expecting Anthrax & Public Enemy part two you won't be disappointed but you also won't be getting that. This was a mix of two separate bands with far different identities & musical styles coming together. ABC is not that. They might have started like that but what they present here is a new unified vision, not two bands going head to head. The focus is clearly on the rap here. The rap is upfront with the guitars sometimes tucked into the mix, while the array of guest vocalists joining frontman Jenko - Neycha, Halo The Young Pharaoh, Nello Player, Jules Vasquez, Suicide, Kallyba, Bungo, Meloetry - definetly help move the focus to more lyrical territories. This isn't a metal band meeting a rap band & seeing who can shout louder, but a metal band providing a different type of music foundation for some rap. Quite often the music takes a break from the metal riffing to fall back into a basic beats & textured rhythms leaving it sounding more like a rap artist bored with the standard dry electronic beats than a metal band looking for a different type of vocal attack. For this later example I think of ghetto metal rapper Bazaar Royale who never lets the guitar onslaught back down from behind him, almost to the point of overpowering his vocals. ABC have literally tried to create a rap metal band. A whole bigger than the parts. So, while hip-hop metal might be accurate ABC has just done what the name truly implies & not what the name has come to stereotypically imply. The guest singers also help break the hold of that restrictive moniker. Jenko's straight ahead rapping is joined by reggae, ska & Jamaica styles that go beyond rap or hip-hop. There's also some female singing with Neycha (i.e. "Dedicated To A Lie). Ska metal? Reggae metal? Further, with the notion of metal one expects fierceness & anger on some level. Hip-hop largely the same but not necessarily. Jenko laces his lyrical stories with criticisms of society & the necessity to bring change. The lyrics certainly have venom in their social bite & revolution in their call, though Jenko isn't drooling at the mouth like someone who hates everything. But, the music is often less heavy than one might someone expect. A lot of metal bands forget that riffing doesn't necessarily make for heavy music. Heavy is in the tone, style, mood, etc. Do you want just heavy metal or do you want heavy metal with a heavy attitude to go with it? At times ABC's guitar section sounds heavy feeling-wise, other times it's just riffing not really backing up Jenko's attitude, but then other times its quite experimental going beyond metal. How many metal guitars drop out to play a simple string of notes against a hip-hop beat ... done on live not electronic drums no less? If anything parts of the album remind me of Matisyahu's Youth that brought together Bill Laswell's swirling & charging guitars with Matisyahu's reggae influenced rapping. That was an ear-opening album for me & a favorite so I don't use the comparison lightly. Actually, for a moment I thought guest Nello Player was Matisyahu as their voices are so similar. Perhaps, on stage ABC presents a harder experience where the air is bit more muddied & the vocals less front & center.

Vanilla Ice ~ Hard To Swallow (album review) ... But, addictive to hear!

Style: heavy metal, rap, punk
Label: Republic
Year: 1998
Home: n/a

Members: Rob Van Winkle "Vanilla Ice" ~ vocals
Shannon Larkin ~ drums
Scott Borland ~ keyboards/bass
Doug Ordito ~ bass
Sonny Mayo ~ guitars
DJ Swamp ~ scratches

Guests: Casey Chaos, Zero, Jimmy Pop Ali, Rod J, Cyco ~ vocals

I can remember my middle school dances where once an hour "Ice Ice Baby" would ring out from the DJ. It was considered cool to request the most popular white boy hip-hop dance track on the charts. Sadly, through a mix of bad business decisions & fickle fans Vanilla Ice quickly crashed from his high perch. Facing insurmountable hurdles to reclaim his fame, fortune or at least self-respect, Ice abandoned his glossy over-commercialized image & music replacing it with hardcore rock/punk, continuing to release new music every couple years ... between stints on reality shows ... all to little fanfare that tends to be more focused on what he was than what he is. But, credit is owed him for being nothing less than a dedicated & creative showman looking for new musical styles to exploit & bend to his own voice & ideas. Few have had the stamina to keep going like Ice, particularly when most of his fan base left him seemingly overnight not long after getting their membership cards. Many, if not most, musicians have done the same & Ice shouldn't be faulted for trying but because the glossy image he debuted with was everything but reflective of his true persona fans hesitate to now trust the honesty of his later incarnation. Beyond just creating interesting music he faces a challenge greater than any in making fans trust him again. That his current image is who is truly is is something many fans will find ... hard to swallow. The gig isn't helped any by his being overly vocal about his fall from fame, which at times seems more of interest than any artistic integrity or creative expression. But, in many ways reputation is all he has because Ice doesn't play any instrument, isn't the greatest of singers or lyricists or most dynamic of performers, thus resuscitating his career is more in the hands of creating good material, getting a good producer & lots of old fashioned luck ... & lots of hard work. Hard To Swallow, his second release post "Ice Ice Baby" & fourth total, presents a hardcore/punk image that chases the same sound & attitude as Korn, Slipknot & Limp Bizkit, due to a shared producer. As opposed to the looping beats of his earlier music, Ice now works with real instruments as distorted guitar riffs clobber each other over electronic drum beats & scratches mixed with Ice's own shouting/rapping making for an hour long angry rap metal pill. It might sound corny at first, but it's far from being as bad or as hard to swallow as one might expect. If anything it sounds corny because we remember where Ice came from, but actually the some of the metal/rap moments are no different then what Eminem would do years later but much heavier ... though Eminem is the greater lyricist & singer. Ice has even remade "Ice Ice Baby" into a hard rock anthem rechristened as "Ice Cold", marking this album as a highlight let alone template of his hardcore output, which isn't that bad compared to the corniness of the original & might in some ways be better. It's definitely more emotional. Though, there's songs on the album that are far more interesting so "Ice Cold" shouldn't be one's only incentive to check out Hard To Swallow. Sadly, few are probably going to check this out for anything more, let alone with any interest that isn't nostalgia based. This is too bad because it's so far beyond what has come before that Ice deserves a second chance, particularly as this is quite a labored release with lots of dynamics that are far more interesting than a good chunk of the hardcore rap & metal artists of similar sounds. Let alone, it's far more emotional than many of his musical peers as lyrical themes include discussing his drug addiction, abusive childhood & fall from fame. The Eminem comparison should make more sense now. It's the most honest music Ice has made. If anything bad can really be said about this album it's that there's no ups or downs. It's pretty much one long angry rant with no soft moments, which, according to press releases at the time wasn't deliberate but Ice had so much venom that in its cathartically release the anger become the dominating sound. While Limp Bizkit fakes anger Ice gives us the real thing. Though, he obviously forgot that even the heaviest & angriest bands drop back sometimes to just chill because sometimes the soft spots can be often more angry sounding. The ballads of Nine Inch Nails are a good example. While, at times there is a bit of boredom hearing yet again his rise & fall story. It's not really an album's worth of material, but the music is so heavy & dynamic with lots of instrumental breaks & guest rappers that its easy to overlook this fault ... considering his peers aren't exactly doing any better lots of time. They never reached the highs Ice did & when you go that high the world no longer treats you fairly when you come down. It's really a shame because this isn't as hard to swallow as one might think.

Fat Boys ~ Coming Back Hard Again (album review) ... Big daddies rockin' the house!

Style: rap, hard rock, hip-hop
Label: Polygram Records
Year: 1988
Home: Brooklyn, New York

Members: Prince Markie Dee, Kool Rock-Ski ~ vocals
Buff Love, aka The Human Beat Box ~ beatboxing

Additional: Peter Campbell, Darren Robinson ~ programming
The NYC Kid ~ sax
Bobby Reich, Paul Pesco ~ guitar
Mac Quayle ~ keyboards
Teri Bieker, Craig Derry, Brian Drago, Cindy Mizelle, Normal Jean Wright ~ b. vocals

Guest: Chubby Checker ~ vocals

This is one of those little albums ... for a 'big' band ... lost in the shuffle, but should be held up as an example of bridging musical genres alongside Anthrax's funk metal & Run-DMC/Aerosmith's "Walk This Way". The Fat Boys might be one of the early rap bands that helped to put Brooklyn on the map but this is an album rock fans will unexpectantly enjoy. I bought it when it was fairly new & Young M.C., M.C. Hammer, L.L. Cool J., Vanilla Ice & the Beastie Boys were on the charts & I was interested in this new danceable urban music style with its fun 'singin'. The Fat Boys looked safe & entertaining & I was suckered into the rockin' title. Though, it's only now that I see the phallic reference in it, which some of the songs ("Back & Forth", "All Day Lover") hinted at & made me nervous ... I would turn down the volume on my boombox for those so mom wouldn't hear. But, safe is an understatement. This is an all out rock/rap/beat-box assault of memorable rap songs, though safe compared to the rap standards set by gangsta rap & Eminem, with rock guitars flowing under them. It's much in the style of Eminem "Cleaning Out My Closet", though with tongue firmly in cheek or perhaps even The Prodigy. The album opens with one of the most unexpected songs any rap band, or any band, might cover - "The Twist", with the originator himself Chubby Checker singing the chorus. It's the "Walk This Way" template all over again & with the Fat Boys rap verses it almost eclipses the original. "Louie Louie" follows the same successful treatment with keyboards, a gritty sung chorus, a breakdown & two guitar solos. On their previous release Crushin' the Fat Boys did "Wipe Out" setting the stage for these latest rock arrangements. The approach could feel tedious but the choice in classic rock songs keeps it fresh. A couple songs songs feature wild 80's power metal guitars & heavy riffing, against rap-esque drum beats, of course (i.e. "Coming Back Hard Again", "Louie Louie"), while there's also more than enough traditional rapping over beats & DJ scratching for the rap fans (i.e. "Pig Feet", "Rock The House Y'All", "We Can Do This", "Back & Forth", "Jellyroll", "Big Daddy"). A few songs (i.e. "All Day Lover") slow things down for ballads that have more in common with L.L. Cool J. or Mary J. Blige than the hardcore rap of the Fat Boys. If nothing else they show the diversity of the band's styles. One of the oddest songs, which makes this sound like a greatest hits compilation next to the rock songs, is "Are You Ready For Freddy" that features guest narration by knife-handed Freddy Krueger (actor Robert Englund) & was the theme for his 1988 movie A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. It's an odd almost Alice Cooper like moment full of eerie electronic effects, a female oohing choir & a beat-box breakdown. A highlight of the album is Buff Love, aka the Human Beat Box who pioneered the mouth percussion known as beatboxing that became an artform (for example, "Are You Ready For Freddy", "Powerlord", "The Twist"). In 1995 Love died of a heart attack at age 28 weighing 450 pounds. The Fat Boys had broken up a few years earlier after becoming a duo with the departure of Prince Markie Dee. The remaining members lost a lot of weight & reunited in 2008 to record new music, going out on tour in 2010 with Doug E. Fresh. If you want to relive a primal era in rap music, when it was more about the street & not the glamor, let alone some outstanding music that covets an array of moods The Fat Boys are a good place to start the nostalgia trip.

Rotfront ~ Emigrantski Raggamuffin (album review) ... From the other side of the Berlin wall!

Style: punk, ska, rap, ethnic
Label: Essay Recordings
Year: 2009
Home: Berlin, Germany

Members: Yuriy Gurzhy ~ guitar/bass/vocals
Simon Wahorn ~ bass/guitar/vocals
Dorka Gryllus, MadMilian ~ vocals
Dan Freeman ~ sax
Max Bakshish ~ sax/clarinet
Daniel Kahn ~ accordian
Anke Lucks ~ trombone
Jan Pfennig ~ drums

What comes to mind when you mix together the musical aggression of punk with the funky backbeat of ska? Probably many bands, actually, including the famed No Doubt that helped make ska mainstream. How about when you mix acoustic European gypsy music with free flowing Klezmer horns & female vocals lines? Probably that ethnic album of gypsy violin music your NPR listening uncle likes to play but you only find chaotically & exotically strange. Okay, now the challenge question. What about when you mix the ska, punk, gypsy & klezmer together & even through in a dash of hip-hop? No, I'm talking about a joke album by Weird Al, though considering some of his experiments that might be a good guess. I'm actually referring to the popular German group Rotfront that does indeed mix all of the above, & quite successfully, creating something that I would highly recommend seeking out. Founded in 2003 by DJ's/guitarists Yuriy Gurzhy & Hungarian Simon Wahorn, Rotfront, or in its full form, the Emigrantski Raggamuffin Kollektiv RotFront, is as much a political-musical movement as it is a cohesive band with its rotating door of musicians depending upon the desired outcome & gig. It's half party band with a ska backbeat behind Klezmer-esque horn solos & a rotating line-up of male & female singers & occasional rapper ... a distorted rock guitar appears only in the bridge of "Klezmerton" ... but at the same time is clearly a punk band with a socially relevant message underneath the fun. It's a bit easy to even dismiss the message as the music is so upbeat & the singing careful & often comical ... everything but angry ... but the disgruntled feelings with society are clearly there & hidden just enough to catch you off guard. Though, it should be noted that the songs are in either German, Russian or Hungarian, so one has to assume that the few English songs share similar themes as their foreign brethren. "Sovietoblaster", one of the best English songs which verges on hip-hop, paints a deceptively content yet dismal picture of the Soviet Union with underground contract killers. Or another example is the chorus of "Red Mercedes" with "the world is going mad, it makes me feel bad ... my red Mercedes will take me away ... everywhere I go I smell destruction, but who remembers what they're fighting for", or from "Rotfront FM" with "no heating on a winter morning, is a sign of global warming ... making love is the only thing we can still enjoy for free." It's hard to let that bit of woe slip past your ears unnoticed. Some songs are more punk sounding ("Kemenyek A Fenyek") while others take a more gypsy-esque free-flowing approach ("B-Style", "Berlin - Barcelona") that creates for a diverse array of music that never gets dull or predictable. The closet band I can think of to compare are the equally musically diverse yet socially relevant Chumbawumba, who had a single hit in America but are much bigger in England, who create upbeat music filled with cutting social criticism. Like Rotfront their music is deceptively not angry sounding. It's the complete opposite of death metal bands that try to make everything angry sounding ... but it's the contrast that is the missing key ingredient. While at times (i.e. "Red Mercedes", "Devil") I recall the socially relevant Jewish hip-hop ramblings of Matisyahu with his fast rapping style. The only thing missing are guest vocals by J-Lo. She would fit in perfect. For those curious, Rotfront is German for 'Red Front', or the 'Red Front Fighters League' that was a paramilitary branch of the Communist Party of Germany that engaged in street fights with the Nazis before being banned in 1932 ... but not before having their raised arm salute borrowed by Nazis. I should also clarify that it's not necessarily gypsy music Rotfront play but more a Mediterranean style, but my American readers know immediately gypsy sounds while Mediterranean would only lead to them scratching their heads.

Bazaar Royale ~ Hard Times Celebrate (EP) (album review) ... Music for the rebel!

Style: hard rock, heavy metal, rap
Label: Bazaar Royale
Year: 2008
Home: New York City

Members: Bazaar Royale ~ vocals
band n/a

Guest: Phil Collen ~ Guitar

Bazaar is credited with creating yet another sub-division of metal - ghetto metal. But, before you groan & say you already know what it sounds like ... Bazaar is one step ahead! Actually, he's literally been one step behind having lived in the ghetto of New York City nearly homeless & broke, a victim of the record label playground before his chance was given & choosing to go back to singing in the subway before going through the game again without being given an opportunity. Heavy metal is, at its core, an expression of angst which makes for a perfect bedfellow for the blues of the ghetto. Why the two haven't been more exploited might have a lot to do with racism. No one talks about white people living in the ghetto, though they do. But, if his ethnicity gives Bazaar an unnatural edge he's also not laid back & enjoying the ride but giving it every punch he can muster to some startlingly genre-bending results. The result brings in an honesty not found in a lot of metal bands with their 'angst-ridden' middle class backgrounds. The blues of the ghetto also are given a dose of optimism & hope in Bazaar's lyrics in his musical suite of self-discovery. But, back to him being one step ahead ... a voice like a Motown soul singer straining to get as much emotion as possible into the air against a rhythmic rock guitar & keyboard background that's layered in such a way to sound more simple than it really is. "Rebel In Me" also features occasional dips into falsetto or what's a pretty close Axl Rose imitation, something deemed impossible until hearing Bazaar. Each song is its own little world showing quite a range of diversity & sounds, but none of them venture into the waters of uncontrolled riffing, sloppy rhythms or over the top solos, with the vocals always keeping the focus like a conductor. At times (i.e. "Hard Times Celebrate") the band falls into basic rhythms while Bazaar does a quasi-rap over it. But, this isn't profane fast rapping but something more akin to Tupac's soft side, or for the rocker's reading, the famous Aerosmith/Run-DMC meeting. Rap when it was honest but not ugly. Bazaar has been catching the ear of all those who hear them. I'd agree! Check him out. 

The Prodigy ~ The Fat Of The Land (album review) ... Feeding the firestarter!

Style: electronica, hard rock, techno
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1997
Home: England

Members: Keith Flint, Maxim Reality – vocals
Liam Howlett ~ keyboards

Additional: Jim Davies ~ guitar
Shahin Badar ~ b. vocals

Guests: Skin, Saffron, Crispian Mills, Kool Keith ~ b. vocals
Matt Cameron ~ drums
Tom Morello ~ guitar

The Prodigy may not be rock or metal band, but the hits that brought them to top slots on MTV are some of the heaviest & doomiest dance beats out there. The Fat Of The Land is the climax of their commercial success & the only time they would sound so heavy before returning to the fog of dance floor music. 'Breathe' could have been something by Rammstein or any number of techno-metal bands that combine DJ's with pounding guitars. It rocks as hard as anything metal, let alone being incredibly memorable, alongside fellow chart-toppers 'Diesel Power' & 'Firestarter.' Anthrax helped bring in funk metal with no tarnishing to their career. The Prodigy could have been the leaders in dancefloor metal or techno-metal ... sadly this wasn't the case or their intention& The Fat Of The Land leaves listeners with but a taste of new future musical directions for the creative headbanger. But, as proof of the potential, Matt Cameron of Soundgarden & Pearl Jam & Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine & Audioslave make appearances on the album. Sampling, shouted hip-hop-esque controversial lyrics, heavy beats, hypnotic music beds - it's all here for the inspiring. Albeit, many metalheads won't give this a second ... or first listen, though it was a popular album on rock radio ... but the seeds were laid in the techno world to inspire the metal world ... it's almost like when Johnny Cash played Nine Inch Nails or Shania Twain crossed into the rock world ... well, or maybe not.