The “Rock ‘n’ Roll Farm Report” was a short-lived review column that ran on our Alt.Culture.Guide™ website for almost a year until we closed the site, not due to lack of readers, but from lack of time and money to continue the project. Still, as these columns show, we reviewed a diverse range of music...
ANTI-FLAG – For Blood and Empire
Since punk rockers are an argumentative bunch of boojies under any circumstances, I’m sure that the major label defection of indie hardcore stalwarts Anti-Flag has already been chewed over and spat out on dozens of chat rooms and message boards across the star-spangled ‘net. Maybe the Reverend is too old for this sort of hijinx, or maybe I just don’t give a damn. These ears honestly can’t hear much diff between For Blood and Empire, Anti-Flag’s controversial major label debut, and the three or four other AF CDs that rotate off my shelf and onto the music box from time to time. Let’s take a peek at some of AF’s new major label concerns, shall we? Anti-war? Check. Anti-racist? Check. Anti-corporate? Check. Anti-WTO, “Big Media,” and social injustice? Check, check, and checkmate.
The music on For Blood and Empire still blisters and peels, the guitars cut all the way down to the bone, and frontman Justin Sane’s vocals still spit out venomous lyrics with an admirable fury. Is Anti-Flag signing with Sony BMG to reach a wider audience with its radical agenda any different than Bad Religion releasing albums through WEA? I say that Justin and crew should grab the cash and hightail it back to Steeltown before the Germans running RCA wake up and realize what they’ve done. In the meantime, all you young punx relax…Anti-Flag still kicks ass and For Blood and Empire is the balls. The Reverend sez so… (RCA Records)
THE KICKBACKS – Motel Stars
Is there room for intelligent music in today’s corporate environment? Probably not, but thank gawd that some bands still have the balls and brains and desire to crank out 90-proof rawk ‘n’ roll. Take, for instance, the Kickbacks. The Boston band’s fourth trip to the plate is an infectious and lively sonic brew of jangling, guitar-driven pop, gilded riff-happy rock, and enough twang to appeal to the Americana crowd. Motel Stars may tip the scales at a lightweight half-hour, but the album’s carefully constructed tunes hit your ears like ten perfectly-timed, three-minute jolts of electricity. Back in the day, once upon a time, in a land far away and all that rubbish, songs like the punchy “Lazy Eye,” the shimmering, dreamy “SSS,” and the wickedly delightful “Lethal Charm” would have been snapped up on 45rpm vinyl by music lovers and blasted by discriminating radio stations out of car radios across the fruited plains. In the modern world, however, where Sturgeon’s law* has been diluted by corporate greed and listener fatigue, the Kickbacks will have to rely on word of mouth and live performances to drive people to their page on CD Baby. It’s worth the trip, though, Motel Stars a long shot at rock stardom but a short walk to some of the highest quality pop-rock jams that your ears will ever enjoy. (Peeled Label Records)
Canadian proggers Saga hit the racks this month with Trust, the band’s 17th album and, perhaps, their best effort yet. With thirty years under their creative belts, Saga stands as one of the original graybeards of the prog-rock genre, and with Trust they extend their already impressive rep with a solid collection of melodic rock that combines the best elements of AOR vibe with prog grandiosity. Mainstream critics, corporate hacks that wouldn’t know King Crimson from King Diamond (or King Missile), have pointed to instrumental doodlers such as Mars Volta or Coheed & Cambria as today’s progressive rock bands. Sez who? They should pull their heads (and ears) from their collective patoots!
Those bands are fine, but if screeching axes alone made a prog-rock band, why isn’t Ted Nugent fronting the Flower Kings, eh? No, Saga is the real deal, the tunes on Trust a sturdy amalgam of perfectly blended, complex instrumentation (driven by guitar and synth/keyboards), imaginative lyrics, soaring vocals, and a musical chemistry that doesn’t happen by chance, but rather through hard work and plenty of nights spent on stage. These guys helped built the foundation for modern prog-rock; hopefully Trust will earn Saga their rightful place in the progressive pantheon. (Inside Out Music)
Growing up in the shadows of Motown in London, Ontario, Canadian guitarslinger Michael Sanders may have been poor, but he soaked up some impressive musical influences. At first fronting the brutal hardcore cult band Dyoxen, Sanders later left Canada and made his way to LA to pursue his own unique musical vision. Sanders’ debut, Servants of A Lesser God, brings together a myriad of influences. Fronting the “One Tribe Nation,” a pick-up band of like-minded young talents and grizzled session pros like percussionist Luis Conte and vocalist Bernard Fowler, Sanders strikes with the stealth of a stage magician and the menace of a coiled rattlesnake.
Servants of A Lesser God runs the gamut of hard rock, blues, jazz, funk, and Latin genres, all of them tied together by Sanders’ amazing six-string abilities. He reminds me a lot of a young Carlos Santana in tone and range, but Sanders aspires to achieve much more. The guitarist is not afraid to sit back and allow his band to fill in these songs with a joyful noise, resulting in the same sort of groundbreaking performances we heard back in the day from titans like Santana and Weather Report. Sanders & One Tribe Nation experiment with both style and sound, creating a satisfying multi-cultural stew and one breathtaking debut. (Esoterica Records)
Yeah, so they sound like Led Zeppelin jamming with Black Sabbath in some sort of Jim Morrison wet dream. This is a bad thing, eh? Aussie shrimpboaters Wolfmother wax ecstatic with self-titled debut, pursuing their childhood dreams of a big boot beat and the endless, eternal riff. Yeah, we’ve all heard this sonic wind before, but for those of us who teethed on strats-n-stadium booger rock, Wolfmother is a blast of nostalgia so real you can smell the pot smoke. Besides, any argument about retro-sounds or the derivative nature of Wolfmother’s chosen milieu are ill-conceived and quite possibly stoopid. These songs rock with a fierce passion that trendier popcrit moozak-fantasies like Coldplay or the Arctic Monkeys will never muster in our lifetimes. God bless ‘em, but these boys really wish they were living their bell-bottom dreams back in ’73 (shudder). Slap “Woman” on the box and prepare to have your eardrums slapped back to yer high school daze. It’s just that damn good... (Interscope Records)
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