posted 12/29/2006 (Fri) @ 12:41 pm
>>> Music Reviews
Rx Bandits - … And The Battle Begun (2006)
Get your war on
- …and the Battle Begun
- In Her Drawer
- Only for the Night
- On a Lonely Screen
- 1980
- One Million Miles an Hour, Fast Asleep
- Apparition
- Mouth Full of Hollow Threats?
- Epoxi-Lips
- Tainted Wheat
- To Our Unborn Daughters
- Crushing Destroyer
Last century, the third wave of ska revival skanked up the airwaves somethin’ mighty boss for awhile before fading back into obscurity. Most people forgot, but as recently as 2003, Ted Leo and his Pharmacists asked, “Where have all the rude boys gone?”
They’re around. These days, though, you just have to strain to hear the transmission. With Rx Bandits’ fifth album proper, the message is delivered with decidedly fewer decibels than 2003’s hard rock-threaded “The Resignation,” but “…And the Battle Begun” ups the clarity with some of the most potent lyrics ever from this band.
“Epoxi-lips” decompresses out of the speakers with a drum hit dowsed with reverb heard only in the deepest depths of dub reggae, and a sly guitar/keyboard duet paves the way for Matt Embree’s vocals. The chorus suggests “Resignation”-era b-side material– not a bad thing at all– in contrast with the majority of “…And the Battle Begun,” which plays a bit like an evolved “Progress” (2001), taught to walk upright. There’s less outright guitar crunch and more playfulness and interplay between the instruments here. Complex rhythms and concepts abound.
Intricate and nuanced performance is the name of the game with the Bandits and their craft. Hard-hitting political tirades trade punches with tales of soured romance, and a bit of creative overlap between the two occurs. Embree’s soaring croon imbues “Only For the Night” and “A Mouth Full of Hollow Threats,” already striking for their eclecticism and instrumental detail, with a sense of passion nearly unheard of in modern popular music. Elsewhere, he harmonizes with himself in a repeating a capella melodic motif (”Untitled”) that crops up throughout “the Battle Begun”: “It’s over / I must have seen her face before / I fell in love when I was born / Now they hide her with a whisper / It’s over.” It becomes ambiguous whether the lovers are people, countries, or both.
Although theirs is music based on decidedly culture-born Jamaican ska and reggae, the Rx Bandits synthesize a sound all their own, one which is nationless yet patriotic at the same time, full of soul and passion, firing warning shots across the bows of armadas of popular opinion such as music fans and politicians. Defiantly creative music like this doesn’t get put to tape very often. Don’t be afraid to get your war on, and explore the rewarding back catalog of the Bandits.
