Posted on 03/31/2009
If the Roughstars camp out in your neck of the woods, you will hear a big surprise. The genre jumping commotion defies labelling, but they've kindly labelled it "Bump Rock," and that it does. Sound bite savvy; the musical "fine tailoring" they propose is a suit of aggressive dance tunes and camouflaged radio tunes.

They start out brusque and bashy with "Five Fifth Addiction." A digital attack, it heralds its own hotness with sirens and pounding techno, but sounds best when Bullet Brown stops singing and goes old school rap. "Manmade Performance" follows swiftly, an uplifting soulful dance ditty.

Bullet thrives when he's thought-provoking rather than rabble rousing as on "New Ending" where he sings he's finally found his peace of mind. The band follow suit on "The Virus," a song that grooves along whilst threatening to whisk you spacewards.

Elsewhere, daft and punk bump and collide as the band splits between thrashing guitars ("Down") and trippy electronica like "Lollipop Picnic."

On "NYC Deglam" Roughstars decry radio pandering whilst offering aural pleasure, varying from rock to nu rave. "Girlfriend" is brazenly catchy with a classic rock and roll hook: "Please don't leave me alone, with your girlfriend. I try and try to leave her alone, but it's not working."

This fiercely New York collective display musical cunning and sound, at ease experimenting with soft sounds or raw edges. Combining punk attitude with a pimp strut, they will survive. This album is worth checking out.

Sonia N.