Creating a musical concoction that mixes
Minutemen-like arrangements with a high-school marching-band sensibility, this second volume from
Drums & Tuba's Water Damage reissue series is a refreshingly unique entry into the rock canon. With Neal McKeeby lassoing guitar lines around Brian Wolff's tuba as D. Boon once did with
Mike Watt's basslines, images of
the Minutemen are conjured through tight grooves and sharp improvisation. Still, nothing about this band is typical, as the changing tempos of the propulsive attack in "Chummus, a Challah, and a Whole Lot of Chutzpah" creates a mournful quality, which at times seems almost akin to that of a spaghetti western. Further, the guitar seizures and somewhat progressive movements of "Blazevitch" filter early
Led Zeppelin-like eeriness through
Captain Beefheart dissonance. Interestingly, the breakneck rendition of
Charles Mingus' "Boogie Stop Shuffle" and a faithful version of
the Minutemen's "God Bows to Math" show a band that is just as comfortable paying tribute to influences. Overall, much more than a novelty,
Drums & Tuba make for strangely compelling listening. ~ Matt Fink