Dragpipe - Music For the Last Day of Your Life

I have a habit of not liking what everyone else likes, or at least, according to some music purists, what you're "suppossed" to like. The Strokes, for example, I think are a pretty little band with fairly maintenance-free haircuts and a decent record, but not the revelation of the year... So it suprised me that I became really fond of Dragpipe's Music For the Last Day of Your Life quite quickly. The riffs aren't original outside of Helmet (see "Simple Minded" and "Puller"), and the lyrics aren't that massively wonderful either (sample crescendo-type chorus: "Drinkin' wine with my friends! Drinkin' wine with my friends!"). But something about this album reminded me of the good old gnarly crunch that is SO missing in the garage-band revival that's currently going on. This is a band that Ozzy could take on tour, a band you could really get into without having to worry if they were about to go "pop" (sorry,Incubus). It's not a revelation, this record, but rather a throwback to the pieces that made up the puzzle of greatness that once was a dirge of guitar angst-sludge. Think Superunknown, think Jane's Addiction without the introspection. Think straight shot in your face of some good itchy rock, y'know, the kind that you'd like to play behind you when you walked in to tell your boss you quit after putting up with years of bullshit. Something like that. It's Deftones without the sensuality- There's just raw energy on this record, no veils. It's good. The only reason Dragpipe doesn't rate any higher is because to describe their fusion of music I like, I have to use music I like, which draws away from their innovative points, which I live by. But honest to Buddah, this is an album that sounds like distressed sheet metal looks, and it'll get ya through the holiday season with some much needed grit. [www.dragpipe.com]