[rating=7.00]
With Band of Outsiders, Mike Dillon made an album in a manner most befitting his maniacal quartet: all four members in one room, playing live, with a straightforward production approach. It’s hard to imagine that their barely contained maelstrom of funk, punk, jazz, and high-minded composition could have been captured any other way. To put it lightly, the band has personality to spare, so it’s fitting that they’re presented in such a raw manner on this jarring and complex album. Those who have seen the band’s often outrageous live shows over the past couple of years will recognize most of the songs, which cover an incomprehensible amount of musical ground. Listeners shouldn’t get too attached to any particular moment, though, because this album is constantly shifting in tone and style.
Band of Outsiders is a dense experience that reveals a little bit more brilliance every time you listen. The songs are often jarring, yet-thought provoking, such as the venomous “Homeland Insecurity” and the relentlessly mocking “Carly Hates the Dubstep”, which features Dillon yelling “I like the molly!” and quite bluntly name-checking musical offenders “big break gigantic science”. Throw in the gleefully assholish “Celebrate the Hate” and a theme begins to emerge, one of punk snottiness balanced with intellectual awareness. Subtlety is in short supply, even though the album is full of confounding compositions and the lyrics flash between smart and gleefully dumb from song to song. One could focus on the instrumentation (vibraphone trombone, drums, bass) for one complete pass through 13 tracks, and then concentrate on the construction of the songs the next listen, and the lyrics the next listen.
“Missing” and “So Long Pal” show that the band could become an instrumental jazz/fusion powerhouse if they chose, and “All Walks of Life” manages to add pronounced profundity to an otherwise caustic set of songs. Dillon’s guttural vocal growl is essential to carry the hardcore themes of some of the songs, though it can also come across as cartoonish at times, such as in the frenzied tale of “Hero the Burro”. Humor is a huge component of the album, with Dillon recounting all manner of New Orleans oddity in “7 AM at the Jazzfest” and “Great Lakes Tuna”. Band of Outsiders is too much to absorb in one listen. The infectious, satirical sonic overload builds like a punk/funk fungus covering more of the listener’s brain each time.
