The Baldwin Brothers - Cooking With Lasers

You may remember the scene in the comedy classic Bio-Dome where, after getting into/out of some kind of slapstick hijinx with Pauly Shore, Steven Baldwin proceeds to whip out his trusty 808 drum machine and vintage synthesizer, and work them into a musical frenzy; as the Weasel looks on slackjawed in astonishment, Baldwin creates one of the best beat-centric albums in recent memory. No? You don’t remember? That might be due to the fact that the aforementioned event never appeared in Bio-Dome. In fact, Steven Baldwin (and his brothers Alec, Billy, and Daniel) have absolutely nothing to do with the four quirky Midwestern lads who make up The Baldwin Brothers. However, I wasn’t kidding about the musical praise. Cooking With Lasers, the Baldwin’s debut album, should have been entitled Cooking with Blenders; trip-hop, soul, and even Kraftwerk find themselves thrown into the mix, cleverly tweaked around, and sent back out through our headphones as a thoroughly enjoyable electronic soundtrack. As their name implies, the Baldwin clan have a fairly boundless sense of humor. "Viva Kneivel," "Urban Tumbleweed" (featuring goofy raps by Barron Ricks), and the ode to Sanford and Son "Funky Junkyard" smirk along with a groovy electronic bounce. However, it’s not all just funk and games; from the lush stylings of "Dream Girl" and "Deep Down" (beautifully sung by Miho Hatori of Cibo Mato and Frente!’s Angie Hart, respectively), to the ambient landscapes heard on "Lava Lamp," the Bros. prove that they can flip ethereal just as well as they can cheekily get down. If you dig the instrumental interludes from any of the Beastie Boys records, David Holmes’ soundtracks for Out Of Sight or Oceans 11, or were simply raised on a steady diet of rap videos and TV sitcom reruns, this album will make your day. Which, in my opinion, is exactly what the Brothers want; they sound like they’re enjoying themselves far too much on Cooking With Lasers, and want nothing else than to invite their listeners to the party and let them in on the joke. Because lets face it, if this music thing isn’t fun, what are the Baldwin Brothers going to do? Act? [www.baldwinstyle.com]