Hard Grind

Guitarist Skip McDonald, bassist Doug Wimbish, drummer Keith LeBlanc, and producer Adrian Sherwood are electronica pioneers, the guts of the band Tackhead, and sparkplugs for recordings by Ministry, African Head Charge, and Dub Syndicate. They have a grounding in funk, reggae, and rock that's given their earlier meta-music a human streak. So it's surprising there's almost no soul here. Gliding slide guitars, samples of black voices, and harmonica lines float through the mix, sliding against pumped snare drums, echo-treated cymbals, and programming. At best, in "Run Here Boy" and the rambling narrative "Blues Story II," the CD's nearest stabs at cohesive songs, a simmering, brooding mood rises, but it's broken by intrusions of dub effects, chanting, and glossolalia. What we hear are the signifiers of blues and none of its substance, mated with listless, shambling, ambient grooves. --Ted Drozdowski