Boot Party

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ALBUM INFORMATION
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Total Tracks: 10   Total Length: 42:19

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Douglas Wolk

eMusic Contributor

Douglas Wolk writes about pop music and comic books for Time, the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Wired and elsewhere. He's the author of Reading Comics: How Gra...more »

04.22.11
Indie rock goes dubadelic, gets down.
Label: K Records / SC Distribution

What exactly is a boot party? On the evidence, it's one of those late-night after-parties at somebody's house, where everybody's still a little woozy from whatever they imbibed earlier, and already pretty uncoordinated from sleepiness, but committed to keeping their hips moving anyway. The principle behind Calvin Johnson's ad hoc band is applying dub tricks (weird mixing, cranked-up bass and drums, snatches of melodica) to indie-pop songs and rhythms. When everything clicks here, it's sublime (especially on "Ship to Shore," a slow makeout boogie purred by Lois Maffeo, and the rubbery funk jam "Shake-A-Puddin'," on which Johnson mutters a rumbling incantation about bouncing, desserts and demon heads); even when the album wanders off on tangents, the groove is crisp enough to make exhausted twitching on a sofa a lot more fun.

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The term “dub” suggests a clever pastiche, music stripped to its parts and reassembled into a new whole. Dub Narcotic Sound System’s Boot Party is not that. Never coalescing, this recording is more erratic and unsettling than eclectic. Aside from the general confusion, there are a few tracks which are bewildered and bewildering in and of themselves. Defying all sensibility, “Super Dub Narcotic” is an interminable showcase for the melodica, and “Afi-Tiome” is more inscrutable still. Imagine a handful of juniors at a small, liberal arts college deciding it would be cool to form a blues band — this is what it would sound like.
On the other hand, amidst the jumble are a few tracks which redeem the whole project. “Monkey Hips and Rice” is an irresistible romp, a delightful exercise in R&B bass, nonsense lyrics and disco whistle. “Shake-A-Puddin’,” a similarly delectable groove, will make you feel so funky that you won’t be able to stand yourself. Although this was released on vinyl, buy the CD. With judicious use of the “program” button you can play producer and transform Boot Party from the rambling, incoherent album it is into the magnificent EP it should have been. – Jessica Jernigan

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