So I was assigned to review this record for Metropop…my editor asked for one of my “trademark funny reviews”…because I do those, apparently. So I checked out the record, and man…I wasn’t into it. I dig The Coup, and old Rage is undeniably awesome…but this didn’t add up. It was a tough place to be in, and I wanted to speak to its strengths and not pan it outright. The problem was that I really really didn’t like it, so my only shred of “journalistic intergrity” won out and this is what I wrote.
Street Sweeper Social Club – Self Titled
I don’t want to hate this, but I do. Tom Morello just shits boneheaded riffs that go “bwaan du du bwaan du du” and by now (despite his past successes with Rage Against the Machine and his awesome solo-ing) his sound inspires more yawns than uprisings. Rapper Boots Riley (The Coup) spits cocky raps about revolution and social change, but he’s also just on autopilot. It’s nothing new, and instead of sounding like the soundtrack to The Revolution, it sounds like the soundtrack to the World Beer Pong Championship.
Yeah…my editor got someone else to write the review and this one never ran…ha. Funny thing though, I just worked a DJ shift at a bar in the village, and this album was PERFECT for the bar…they have beer pong tables there. Figures.
Tags: beer pong, boots riley, street sweeper social club, tom morello
Hahaah, amazing!
I’d print it!
The sad part? these guys kicked my ass live. It’s like night and day – they whipped up the crowd as the openers for Nine Inch Nails in Chicago, and a few of their songs dropped my jaw. BUT, apparently they could not translate one ounce of this in to a studio recording, because I completely agree: it falls flat. No energy, no wows. Just stale sounds from people who have done better work in the past.
Everyone I’ve talked to has said the EXACT same thing. That they ruled live, failed on the record. I could see that.