On Second Listen: Flobots - Fight With Tools
In Consequence of Sound’s newest feature, “On Second Listen,” we take another look at some of the year’s musical releases that you have missed the first time around, but are still worth a listen…
“I can ride my bike with no handlebars.”
We’ve all seen this lyric by now. Whether on the radio or in music videos littered all over MySpace and YouTube, these words have been meeting our ears for a few good month now, constantly introducing and reintroducing us to music’s newest political activist.
Between the spewed rhetoric, furious rights, heavy beats, at first listen, the aforementioned sounds appear to be the something off of Rage Against the Machine’s long-awaited fifth studio album. Only it’s not. It’s something fresher and newer, something for today’s society, today’s generation. It’s the Flobots. While Rage has pretty much coined the concept of bands with agendas using Morello’s signature guitar and de la Rocha’s biting lyrical commentary - Flobots IS the next generation.
Formed in 2000, this Colorado seven-piece features a MC, guitars, drums, and - wait for it - a female vocalist/violist. The pleasure of a band like this is that they are the newest forerunners in live-music rap artists with a mix of eclectic sound, spoken word poetry, and of course, politically charged rhymes.
After two independent releases, we see the 2008 year in music bring us their major label debut, Fight With Tools. I lend my voice to review their album, while simultaneously speaking in terms of a Listen article, because if you haven’t heard them yet - you should. The introduction, “There’s A War Going On For Your Mind”, foreshadows things to come with a spoken word poem dubbed over what sounds like wartime news coverage before fading into static and a segue into the second track, “Mayday!!!”.
It’s pure venom, both musically and lyrically with phrases like “This is a disaster/where the fuck are the rescue workers/not far/I’m pissing on a cop car”. The song comes off like most on this record do - anarchist neo-yippies with a message and a backdrop of Bohemian tunes.
Next comes “Same Thing”, a personal favorite. “Somewhere between prayer and revolution/between Jesus and Huey P. Newton” starts off a dance beat laced with horns and bass guitar, while remarking toward the end of the song with a list of political assassinations and killed world officials (”Who let them assassinate Oscar Romero?/I didn’t let ‘em but they did it, indeed”), plus a personal touch (”Drop the debt, and legalize weed”).
Track four, “Stand Up” is a viola strengthened piece that reminds me of an Irish Jig on slo-mo. Again, we get stand-out lyrics: “Stand up/we will not be moved/except by a child with no socks and shoes/if you’ve got more to give then you’ve got to prove/put your hands up, and I’ll copy you”
Next comes the title track, “Fight With Tools”, which actually, believe it or not, offers almost a Three 6 Mafia-like rap until Jonny 5 chimes in with more biting words. While not the best song overall, the proceeding song “Handlebars” brings a wave of gradually building energy Stairway-style while keeping in step with the rest of the record.
“Never Had It” is very folksy in it’s performance, where you get a better taste of Mackenzie’s (the violist) vocals, which turn out to be absolute beauty. Her charm is not at all outweighed by the seriousness of the song’s tone. The following two tracks offer the first bit of “fun” on Fight With Tool - “Combat” is essentially a track of bragging rights by the rappers Jonny 5 and MC Brer Rabbit and “The Rhythm Method (Move!)” is essentially a rap party track with tidbits of smart alec remarks intertwined within.
“Anne Braden” is by far the most melancholy track, as it tackles the issue of race relations. Luckily, instead of repeating the same old rhetoric, the Flobots choose to take it from a different angle - associating racism with religious hypocrisy, while making the song biographical (hence the title reference to the American advocate for racial equality).
Lastly, we have two songs that are opposites in terms of complexity, but are perfect for closing out this 2008 wrecking ball. “We Are Winning” is a combination of a woman reading socio-political poetry, while Jonny 5 retorts back with highly-motivated rhymes that are brought out as a call to arms. “Rise” is reportedly the second single (after “Handlebars”), but not nearly as powerful, and sadly, while it is a proper closing track, it does not feel like a single.
The overall opinion? Fight With Tools is by far one of THE best albums this year, and probably the best rhymes I’ve heard since Sage Francis. Striking, witty, and original both in sound and in verse, I urge anyone who enjoys real music to pick this up. You won’t regret it.
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