The changing face of punk
Stargrazer | deep in the heart of Michigan | 07/23/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Spoken word is a hard sell. Improvised rock (that isn't noodly jam-band modal dippiness) is a hard sell. So imagine combining these two hard-sell genres into one. Nevermind that Mike Watt, George Hurley, Jack Brewer and Joe Baiza are West Coast punks of the highest order, the guys who wrote the book that most latter day ersatz punks crib their songs from.
There is a deep pedigree at work here, winding its way from Black Flag's "The Process of Weeding Out" through Elliott Sharp's Bootstrappers and Stephen Perkins' earliest Banyan collaborations -- the staunch belief that cathartic self-expression can find a nexus (and thus a solace) with visual art, the written word, film, and life itself.
Unknown Instructors is not beat poetry or coffee-shop moping, it is a near-violent, slow-boiling affirmation that art is life.
Those resigned to tread musical water and bash out 1-5-4s about how they are so alienated are warned to steer clear."