Salmon is a band that is somewhat thought of as one of the forefathers of the current socal/nocal scene and judging from this release you can see why. Lightning fast lyrical onslaughts hammering you into submission combined with a snugly interwoven funk infrastructure makes this CD somewhat of a must have. At first I was alienated by the seemingly odd lyrical styles, Lawrence the vocalist inflects and changes the tone of his voice on the fly making for a somewhat spastic sound, he doesn't necessarily rap about deep political dogma or emotional experiences but instead more or less just lets it flow almost questioning the listener with his tauntingly swift lyrics, which was a bit hard to grasp at first. But after a few listens I realized that it adds to what this band does and what they exude, and that is energy, the CD is filled with it, the music almost forces you to want to groove around or at the very least bob your head. Listening to the CD it's hard not to become overwhelmed with the distinct mesmerizing sound that is Salmon. Something that I notice is that the vocal, bass and drums seem to be all tightly syncopated providing a very unique fresh sound that has not been explored this intricately previously by anyone in recent memory. The band as a whole sweats soul laden groove heavy funk, it's incredulously executed with such mastery that influences from the masters of the genre from the years of old can't be overlooked. Songs like "Bantamburgh", "Rubberhead" and "The Knack" are an incredibly intense aural aerobic workout which I feel showcase the band at their sharpest. The thing that makes the CD also takes away from the CD though, the band just doesn't stop it's intense yet light hearted and the band sticks to the spastic funk rap and keeps it locked on but doesn't venture much further from that. There's no excessive heavy tracks or slow downers, it just consistently is going for the jugular funky which in turn makes the songs all melt into each other.. this isn't necessarily a bad thing but it is something that can detract overall from any CD. Don't get me wrong though the band does experiment, but even as they do an offbeat melody or a some what slower pace it's still vigorously hoppy and energetic which makes the tracks vary minimally from the last. Indeed this isn't a completely negative thing though as the CD is still rock solid and immensely enjoyable. Salmon's music is a speedy fireball of funk-rap which is all but guaranteed to get you into shape faster then a Richard Simmons workout tape.
(4 / 5)