Turds. Blood, Sweat, and Tears. Whitesnake. Korn.

An odd name, but hey, it's funk.

Over the years, this sprightly little piece of funk eventually became a favorite of mine. I love how it manages to mine a slow tempo while never not promoting ass-shaking. I can't say I'd ever followed funk very closely, but this was definitely a topic for further investigation.

Fast-forward several years, and I'm finally ready to investigate further...And suddenly I found that my uncle’s door had never been barred from me and that he was more than willing to let me have a peak into his world. And thus I discovered “grown-up” rock and roll.

H-O-L-Y F-U-C-K, they were the hottest shit I'd seen in a long time and I remembered why I was so excited about them the first time I heard them!

They were loud and unrelenting. They understood the primal nature of the "dumb" rock song and, just as importantly, understood (as Albert Collins once told me and some friends) the importance of a kickass tone.

The recordings are intricately layered the way you would imagine that a producer's recordings would be. They are the sort of thing Joe Mathlete would want to don his headphones for, just without all the cheesy rock clichés. For me, it's so disturbingly powerful, expressive, violent and aggressive that it makes punk rock sound like mere posturing.There is a golden haze encompassing this group of pig-killing choir boys. Man vs. Man. Boy vs. Boy... vs Nature etc., etc. It totally fascinates me.

My biggest problem with them at the end of the day however is the apparent need they seem to feel for interminably boring bonus tracks and unbearably over-serious lyrics. That shit gets old real fast. But the noodly, overcompressed guitar; the manicured production; and especially the high, screechy vocals are fingernails on my blackboard.

Suffice to say that I really love this album and you should buy it.

Really,

if these guys come to your town, go see them

and tell 'em NAP sent you.

P.S. I’m working on a theory of background noise to explain why I enjoy listening to all of this crap so much. When it makes sense, I'll post it.