Fishbone are a goddamned punk/funk/ska institution in Los Angeles, one that any underground music fan past the age of twenty-five worth his weight in bondage belts knows well to respect. Outsiders in all the best respects, these cats have been taking heed of their own muse for more than three decades and have laid down a body of ass-shaking, stage-diving, moon-stomping gloriousness that should be (if it ain’t already) the envy of damned near every band daring to think of dipping their toes into any shallowest corners of the pond in which they do the backstroke. The seven songs presented here are a bit of a crash course in what Fishbone do so well—one Caribbean-inflected jam, a few funky workouts, and a couple of metal-tinged thrashers to get the kiddies worked up. Time will tell if anything here has the staying power of classics like “Lyin’ Ass Bitch,” “One Planet People,” or “Party at Ground Zero,” but rest assured you’ll have a helluva time getting’ down while waiting to find out.
–jimmy (DC Jam, dcjamrecords.com)