Dub Pistols
Six Million Ways To Live
Distinct’ive Records/!K7
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Dub Pistols as a band is that they think they’re punks. Dub mastermind Barry Ashworth is quoted in their official bio as saying, “Dub Pistols are punk, because punk as an ethic means anything goes… throw things in a pot and see what’s cookin’ – that’s punk funk!” And sure enough, this is very much a “throw enough things at the wall and something will stick” collection. Dub Pistols ricochet between dub (duh), ska, punk, funk, break beats and more, and which cut the deepest for you will depend largely upon who you are. Me, I’m an ’80s man, so you know I’m all about the song “Problem Is” on which the band work with Terry Hall, late of Fun Boy 3 and The Specials. This bouncy little ska song is as immediately entrancing as anything I’ve heard this year on any album. On the more hip hop tip of the iceberg, “Still Breathing” ain’t bad at all. One or two songs play better out of context and would make great singles – the title track itself being a memorable example. And so my advice to you is sample the record someway, somehow first and figure out how many tracks you can’t live without. But the thing is, I’m telling ya, there’s gonna be at least one or two. Yeah, they’re that good.
The only drawback is that 98% of people won’t like every track on the album – but that’s why God made CD remotes (and it’s true of 99% of all albums, anyway). Besides, you’ve got to love a band that includes a prank call to their former record label as a song intro, haven’t you?
As the Bang Orchestra used to say, Sample That!
!K7: http://www.k7.com/
