BARGAIN MUSIC
77 003 (Beatville)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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In the middle of the Long Beach, California ska-ing fields there is this oddball band that must get a lot of stares and blinks from the skater-ska crowd. They ain't obsessed with the 2 and 4 beats. Their music would make crappy bedding for x-treme skate ramp TV shows, and the skaters would get sucked into listening to the music and the words and, well, they'd crash! What is it? It's dub, it's reggae, it's hip-hop, and it's soul. Not necessarily all at the same time, but usually at least in pairs. What it always is, though, is great. I'm not skating, but I'm sure getting drawn into "Icanseeclear," a hiphopnotic thing that rides on a fat bass line, kick drum, snare rim, tambourine and the repeated mantra "I can see clearly now - the sky is fallin'" (or... is the the SKA is falling? Could they be that cold?!) By the time the melodia snakes in between the other instruments, you're hooked, my friend. While they have you in that super-serious, suggestive state they drop the humor bombs, and you never see it coming until the shrapnel does it's thing. Catch this: "What do you do - when a man comes up to you - and points a .44 into your face? - You look at the man all sunny - stick your finger in his barrel like Bugs Bunny - and then you pray to God there ain't a bullet in the place." Amen, Doc. I have no idea what the list price is, but whatever it may be, it really is a bargain.

© 2000 - DJ Johnson