July 2002 • Rockbites Alternative Daily
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NYC’s Alablaster, via London & Prague, release debut 30 July 2002
Politics and social issues, once the domain of folkies, fueled hippie rock and then punk in decades past. Some hip-hop artists still talk about community concerns. But except for reactions to the attacks of last September (notably by Neil Young & Bruce Springsteen), and with rare exception (viz Rage Against The Machine), sociopolitical rock has survived only as a novelty or on the far fringes of pop culture. The disconnect is rather stunning, given the condition of the world. Makes you wonder what’s keeping the subversive voices down. James Donahower (born Kuba DeMilo) is one of those subversives, but he missed that notice posted by the pop fashion police. Since the early ’90s he’s been making politicized rock in a series of bands including the Prague-based Dirty Pictures, London’s Pohoda, and now in NYC four-piece Alablaster—who release their debut album today on Chicago’s Veronica Records. Alablaster’s music, with angry fist raised high, has both feet planted in the soil of the late ’70s, when social concerns birthed the UK punk movement and such acts as The Clash and The Buzzocks. Some of the LP’s strongest moments are its most Buzzcocks-like—such as the beautiful, minor-key, bitingly sardonic punk of Talk Of Los Angeles in which Donohower sings “I want to die of an overdose/And come back to life as a blonde on Melrose”. The songs on Ancient Ruins, Modern Inventions cover political oppression, police corruption, denominational bigotry, sexual violence, bombing of civilians, Hollywood superficiality, and being an outsider and numb to the world. Whew. But Alablaster deliver their heavy agenda with plenty of (dark) humor and within the context of well crafted songs that stand on their own apart from the lyrics. Fuck the fashion police. Alablaster are cool. Three bites out of five. Rockbites ratings 5: life changing, 4: stunning, 3: captivating, 2: amusing, 1: annoying. | Veronica Records | | top of page | |
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