THE STEPBROTHERS - Baby it's over

THE STEPBROTHERS Baby it's over cd 2004 Liquorice Tree records 320 kbps

Very last time / Straight up / Going back to Miami / All over town / Catch this teardrop / I'll have another / It ain't gonna last / Baby it's over / Shut it down / This strange effect / You get nothing ! / Brand new dance .

Produced by Mike Mariconda.

The Stepbrothers : Mike Mariconda : guitars / Pat Pestorius : vocals / Jeff Linton : bass / Sean Morales : guitar / Matt Smith : drums .

I've never been one for the phrase 'ass-kicking", but this album will kick your ever-lovin' one. It's made by and for top-block ass-kickers and name takers who will stop at nothing to assault you with their rock-shaken soul. By soul, I mean the real deal, baby. It's over. Stax met the Stones in Sweatbox Studios somewhere in 2004. Their resultant Furies-vs.-Warriors rumble has created a newer, more powerful street gang featuring Mike Mariconda (Raunch Hands/Devil Dogs), Pat Pestorius (Stingers), Sonny Morales (Titz), Jeff Linton (Damn Times), and Matt Smith (White Heat). These reckonable forces of streetwise souls are ready to 'Come out and plaaaaaayyyyy" with a holsterful of songs I wish to hell I'd written before they did. With "I'll Have Another," deceptively simple lyrics create a sense of frustrated agony: "Can't stop smokin'/Can't stop drinkin'/Can't stop thinkin' o' you!" is screeched out like a super-market tantrum, complete with stomping foot. "Shut It Down" and "Very Last Time" are more snarling rock-and-soul winners, while songs like "Straight Up" and "All Over Town" glide effortlessly through the swagger of some cheap-ass R&B-loving pimp walking the back streets of a town not quite cool enough to be New York City. The only song that falls flat is "It Ain't Gonna Last," but it’s redeemed when followed up by the title track. Distribution by Licorice Tree Records alone shows this album's ass-kickin'osity. Licorice Tree, though fairly new, has built a catalog whose motto should be "We release it. You buy it." Get it now before the girl lurking inside the front cover shoots you in the face. - C. Gnagy

Buy it here (sale : $5!).