THE ADJUSTERS' OTIS REDDING WILL SAVE AMERICA

What a wonderful world. Jay-Z can shit out an album a year of mediocre work, and Avril Lavigne can operate under the guise of “punk”. Yet something as good as The Adjusters’ Otis Redding Will Save America struggles to find a label. What the hell? Why must quality get buried by mass appeal shit! Arrgh. Enough frustrations. Why is this album good? Because it’s a solid step in the band’s evolution. With each album, their marriage of musical styles has strengthened. And while they continue to blend their Jamaican and soul music influences, they’ve added the next logical steps: hip-hop and drum ‘n’ bass. More politically-rooted people’s music for their politically-rooted people’s message. The styles are married comfortably well, and the songs don’t come across as having turntables for turntables’ sake. The revolution begins to spin with “WTF Ska”, an instrumental that serves as a “here’s what you’re in for” stylistic introduction. Then comes “Gun”, which can only be summed up in one word: dope. Musically and lyrically, this thing reeks of good, old-fashioned, Marvin Gaye-powered, socially-conscious shit to shake your ass to. Think: The Clash at their funkiest, with Grandmaster Flash at the boards. They keep rocking your ghetto blaster with songs like “Master Blaster”, “The Fightback, Part II”, the incredibly well-done “Boomstick”, and (my vote for chorus of the year) “When Things Fall”.
There isn’t really a bad song on the record. The only awkward moment for me is when they abandon their genre-blending, and lay down the straight-forward, guerrilla hip-hop track, “If You”. It’s stylistically sparse, sticking to one genre, and lacking the layered blending that makes the rest of the album so damn good.
Of course, that’s me being picky. Were I your life teacher, this record would be required listening. Buy it. Spread the word. Vive l’Adjusters.
VISIT THE ADJUSTERS HERE.