Music Meltdown

Denis Leary, Lock 'N Load (A&M Records)

[Picture] Denis Leary has never tried to endear himself to the public. In fact, he's made a career out of berating and insulting people, using a speech delivery style that skirts the line between ranting and raving. Nothing is taboo for Leary, and nothing is sacred either. If something annoys him, and most things do, he's gonna yell about it and if he can get people to laugh at the same time, more the better. As he proclaimed in song on his last album release, "No Cure For Cancer," "I'm an asshole." Consider that your disclaimer.

If you are easily offended, Leary's latest release, "Lock 'N Load" should probably be avoided. Made up in part by material recorded during a live performance for an HBO special of the same name, "Lock 'N Load" boasts such track titles as "Fuck This," "Fuck Santa," and even "Fuck The Pope." If you're not offended yet, you'll probably enjoy the CD.

Along with the live material, there's also a few songs, including "Life's Gonna Suck," from Leary's MTV unplugged performance, and the title track, written and performed with former Afghan Whig Greg Dulli.

Plus, there's a guest appearance by Janeane Garofalo on "A Reading From The Book Of Apple," a track which severely, but deservedly, mocks one of the oh-so-trendy Fiona Apple's pathetic speeches.

Other folks to take a hit from Leary include Marv Albert, on "Marv Marv Marv," and dancer/egomaniac Michael Flatley, on "Asshole Of The Dance."

Basically, "Lock 'N Load" is a tirade against every convention of modern life. What else could you expect from the man?

Doug Levy

DJ Krush, MiLight (MoWax)

DJ Krush's last album, Meiso, was a giant step forward for hiphop DJs, introducing many new techniques and artists to the scene and gaining critical acclaim, followed by a successful world tour. His latest offering, MiLight, weighs in at 28 tracks and over 75 minutes of music. And it's all good.

The Japanese turntable master combines fat beats with cool samples, expert scratching, up-and-coming rappers, lazy triphop and groovin' melodies. The outcome is something truly amazing.

Guest appearances are common throughout and artists such as Tragedy, Shawn J. Period, Finsta Bundy, DJ Kam, Kemuri Production, Mos Def, Eri Ohno, Ken Ifill and Deborah Anderson can be heard on the album. One of the greatest tracks, "Shin-Sekai," features an appearance by a lesser-known Japanese rapper, Rino, on the mic. If you're not an instrumental hip-hop fan, don't fret, as the rapping on the album's non-instrumental tracks is first class.

The fact that so much Japanese talent is utilized here is great, showing us, as it does, how the rest of the world is in tune with this stuff and how Puff Daddy is not the only rapper out there. If you're looking for good beats and great trip/hiphop, pick up MiLight and be blown away.

-James Casey

Will Smith, Big Willie Style (Columbia)

There's a scene in "Don't Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood" where Ashtray turns to Doo-Rag and says that they are an endangered species, because rappers are taking all the good parts for black actors.

Bad news, Ashtray, Will Smith is still one of the best at both. And his new album, Big Willie Style, shows the rapper in a new incarnation but with the same smooth raps and catchy backbeats.

He's no longer the "Fresh Prince" - apparently it's no longer cool to be named Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff just provides back scratches and some minor producing credits on the album, but it is still Smith's best effort since "He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper."

Smith scored a hit over the summer with the title track on the "Men in Black" soundtrack, and that song is on the new album, but the highlights are by far the debut single, "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It," and "Miami," two songs celebrating Smith's transformation from goofy rapper to smooth operator.

Think Big Daddy Kane, but with a silly streak. The playfulness is still there - as is evident on "Candy" - but the songs definitely showcase an older Smith, who is more aware of his place in an adult world.

Craig Degel

Space Monkeys, The Daddy of Them All (Factory Records)

Baggy is back and in a big way. The Space Monkeys, with their second release, proceed to show the world the glory of the sound. Baggy, if you are unfamiliar with the term, is a dancy rock style, originating in Northern England, that a lot of indie bands in the early '90s followed. The Happy Mondays are responsible for the original baggy sound, but many groups, such as EMF, the Charlatans UK and especially the Stone Roses, helped to develop it.

The first track on The Daddy Of Them All, "Acid House Killed Rock and Roll," is a breakbeat-backed rock tune with a mixture of Vivarin induced energy and adrenaline-fueled guitar. "Blowing Down the Stylus" is a wickedly smooth song with delicious grooves and a Primal Scream-esque rhythm which rolls easy and fast.

Songs four and five, "Inside My Soul" and "Ready For the Rampage," are the best of the bunch, echoing a Charlatans UK sound with hip-hop driven vocals.

The Space Monkeys use DJ effects, including scratching, on 90 percent of the album and manage to pull it off without sounding cheesy. "Dear Dhinus" combines techno beats with real percussion and still manages not to avoid campiness.

The Daddy of Them All is one of those all-too-rare releases that you'd be mad to miss.

-James Casey

Retro Review - 1995

Klark Kent , Kollected Works (IRS)

Kollected Works is a compact disc re-issue, along with three previously unreleased tracks, of Klark Kent's Music Madness from the Kinetic Kid, originally released in 1980. Kent is the alter-ego of Stewart Copeland from the Police, although he vehemently denies it.

Copeland originally wrote a lot of Police songs, but then Sting came along and took over, sometimes even rewriting the words to Copeland's material. Copeland needed an outlet, so Klark Kent was born. His identity was theorized about many times. Some stories say he was born in a Welsh fishing village. Some say he's from the planet Zerkon. The liner notes of the original album claim he's an Indian mystic as well as a computer programmer. What is confirmed, however, is that he was a New Wave musical genius, able to play four instruments at once.

The songs on Kollected Works combine the good things about new wave with the good things about punk. They've got lots of wacky bass lines and kazoo noises and very '80s guitars and lyrics like, "My only worry is my humility / it dampens all my heavy artillery." Songs like "Don't Care" and "Away From Home" can be found on New Wave CD compilations, and "Theme for Kinetic Ritual" could easily be the musical equivalent of the whole New Wave movement itself.

Klark Kent, while supposedly alien, captures the very essence of early '80s pop: songs about mundane experiences thrown together with delusional schizophrenia. Really, what else is there?

- Annie Holub