-
Scenepointblank.com; "Fight with Tools" LP Review
[+ Show ]
Every era has seen the chocolate/peanut butter combination of music and activism mixed together to c...Every era has seen the chocolate/peanut butter combination of music and activism mixed together to create the tasty sensation of protest music. Long derided as "hippie shit" by those too lazy to listen, the protest song has been a ubiquitous form spanning the last century. Okay, maybe not the eighties, but every other decade has more than had its share. From the earliest notes of Florence Reece's "Which Side are You On?" through Billie Holliday's "Strange Fruit" and on through the careers of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Dead Kennedys, The Coup, Midnight Oil and Public Enemy - all artists who have transcended the whining-as-protest music and offered solutions to the problem at hand.
We may now add to this most esteemed list of artists, Flobots – a hip-hop group from Denver, Colorado using awareness-as-action as opposed to the more common awareness-as-apathy preachings of the modern day "artist." Fight With Tools, the band's first full-length release is a call to arms of such oratorical aplomb, that even the most jaded of listeners are sure to be swayed.
Beginning with a lone, distant viola, "There's a War Going on for Your Mind" has Brer Rabbit (one of two emcees, the other being Jonny 5) setting the stage for a forty-five-minute coup d'état that attempts to do the impossible: to educate without sermonizing. There can often be nothing more boring than an artist who wears their pseudo-politics on their sleeves like so many corporate sponsored badges of dishonor. The Flobots' earnestness manages to rise above all the claptrap and palaver without alienating the average sir or madam.
When reading the lyrics, it can all be a bit overwhelming – a seemingly stream-of-consciousness prose that can only be truly understood with rhythms and beats. But after you hear the album, go back and read the lyrics again, and I think you'll find them easy to decipher. The production is crisp and clean with virtually every note accented. The arrangements of the songs are sparse which could be considered a detriment to a lesser band, but here provide the perfect vessel without managing to clutter the delivery of the message.
This all sounds very serious, doesn't it? Scary, even. Don't be a baby. Music can have a message, and still be damn enjoyable. I defy you. DEFY you to listen to "Handlebars" and not get it stuck in your head for days, weeks, even. You know where to reach me. I'm taking bets now, you punks. You'll likely have the same problem with "Anne Braden," a much needed history lesson of one of the few white, 1960's female civil rights leaders with, in addition to an ultra-catchy refrain manages to remind us that even after almost 50 years, it's pretty much the same shit, different decade.
As mentioned before, yes there is viola on this album, a viola is played throughout this album, in fact. Not the typical instrument of the genre, as we all know, but thankfully the band uses the instrument not as a gimmick but a sincere accoutrement. Violist Mackenzie Roberts is a very skilled player and, as it turns out a very skilled vocalist as shown on "Never Had It," a song sure to become a popular request at future shows. Providing a rock-solid backbeat for Flobots is Kenny Ortiz, a metronome of a man who adds all the punctuation for the band's poli-psy essay, which is especially evident on the album's title track.
There was a time, (as there's sure to be again, as it tends to be cyclical) that no one will give a shit about politicized socially conscious lyrics, but now just doesn't seem to be that time. Enjoy music with intelligence while you can, folks – complacency's all too common in this world. Lazy writing of both lyrics and music is never ending and the law of supply and demand…well…demands it. For Pete's sake demand otherwise while we still have the choice to do so.
September 20, 2007 - Kevin
-
OkayPlayer.com: "Fight With Tools" LP Review
[+ Show ]
Flobots' ambition is almost always on display on this, their first full-length album, and why not? C...Flobots' ambition is almost always on display on this, their first full-length album, and why not? Coming from the dense cradle of respectable hip hop that is Denver, Colorado, they basically have nothing to lose. Three American flag bandanas to the wind, (see album cover) Flobots attack the status quo armed with perceptive lyrics, guitars, bass, drums, trumpet, and even the ever so hip hop viola. The musicality of the album is impressive, and the versatility of the live component is a cornerstone of this unique assault. The only slipups here occur when they deviate from their self-devised approach and start sounding like they're following in identifiable footsteps.
On first listen I was thrown into attack mode pretty early. After a well-done spoken word piece entitled "There's A War Going On For your Mind," I think I hear someone doing an Aesop Rock impression talking about breaking the mold…I float into thoughts of white rappers forcing themselves into just such a mold…and I'm clearly in for a long listen. The next track "Same Thing" pushes off and settles into another recognizable flow…seriously??….and it hits me. This one sounds like a blueprint for a J5 record. Fuck me!!*!!!
Upon further review, the lyrical content and musicality of these songs do redeem them to an extent, and the album's only real weak patch is quickly left behind in the Denver dust.
"Stand Up" points the ship in the right direction, with emcees Brer Rabbit and Jonny 5 poignantly chanting and churning over a lush and subtle beat…and we're off.
"Handlebars" is the disc's standout and it's a triumph; a woven fabric of intricate Juxtaposition and precise lyrical stitching. Uplifting lyrics ("I can design an engine sixty four miles to a gallon of gasoline, I can make new antibiotics") play against a mellow string and bass soundscape, while notions of negativity and doom ("I can end the planet in a holocaust") are thrown against fast and rocky musical terrain. Even the gap is stitched in with the precision of a Persian rug maker, bridging lyrically ("I can hand out a million vaccinations or let 'em all die in exasperation / have 'em all healed from their lacerations or have 'em all killed by assassination") and musically at once, while touching on issues of power and responsibility.
The tight cadence that works so well with the complexity and song structure of "Handlebars" is blurred at times while looser flows run ashore into complex musical backgrounds. Most of the album's vocals stand up valiantly to the complexities of the sonic backgrounds, however, and the result is a singular and solid vessel. For the most part, Fight With Tools is a revelation from the Rockies, possessing a shrewdness and musical style that could carry Flobots into serious focus down river.
- Russell Rubin
-
Flobots Fight with Tools: BackBeat Music Feature
[+ Show ]
Stephen Brackett's intuition was unbelievably strong — when it came to Jamie Laurie, anyway. On his ...Stephen Brackett's intuition was unbelievably strong — when it came to Jamie Laurie, anyway. On his first day at Bradley Elementary, the wide-eyed fourth-grader took one look at the fifth-grader across the schoolyard and whispered to his father, "Hey, Dad, that guy's going to be my friend."
"And then," Brackett says, looking over at Laurie, "you introduced yourself to me, didn't you?"
"Uh," Laurie demurs, "that part I don't remember."
"Ha, ha!" says Brackett, laughing. "That's where the story breaks down. Whew! Cue the sappy violins."
Clearly, Laurie, aka Jonny 5, isn't as sentimental about their first encounter. Nonetheless, his friendship with Brackett, who performs alongside him under the name Brer Rabbit, is the foundation on which Flobots built their insurgent hip-hop crew. Beneath the passionate words calling for social change, railing against injustice and decrying the current war effort, there's a kinship and a deep, sincere mutual admiration.
"The music that we make is pretty weighted with messages," Brackett declares. "And it wouldn't be effective if it was just Jamie's vision and the rest of us were just like session guys. That's another thing that's really helped us — we have people that we already knew, so we could trust each other to make the music, and in that way, like, we've sort of become the musicians that we needed to be to do what we wanted."
But they started out as nerds of a feather, classmates in the same gifted-and-talented program. Laurie and Brackett killed many an afternoon hashing out the details of a comic-book universe they jointly conceived, with 300 characters and fifteen different titles. "I remember some of my first feelings of actual envy were looking at his drawings," Brackett confesses. "We'd act out what the comic book was going to be, and then we'd sit down and draw the characters afterward. His stuff was sick. I was so jealous. I'd go home and I'd be, like, drawing things and working on it with the image of what Jamie drew in my head, and it was like, 'Aargh!' He was ahead of me for years. And then there was one point in time where I worked on a drawing for like eight hours. He came over and I saw his eyebrows raise. I was like, 'Yes!'"
That sense of playful one-upmanship continued when the comic-book geeks turned their attention toward hip-hop. "It was the same thing with the MC stuff," Brackett explains. "It hasn't been like a competition, but it's fun to seek that level, to get an eyebrow-raise out of him. I also believe it's one of the things that keeps hip-hop sharp, at its best. You've got your crew, and you guys are just battling each other back and forth, and the whole time, your swords are sharpening, and the whole thing gets elevated. So I felt the same way with the rhymes: What I'm trying to do is just get an eyebrow-raise out of Jamie."
And early on, that wasn't easy. Laurie was drawn to the sheer wordplay of hip-hop, while Brackett was more compelled by the content and delivery. "Stephen is more visceral," Laurie points out. "He understands the energy that needs to be behind something, the emotions behind it. I'm the kind of person, at the very beginning, I was counting the number of syllables in each rhyme: 'That rapper's no good; he only rhymes two syllables. You hear Gift of Gab? That's five syllables....' I'm large like a hippopotamus, trip, I gotta dis. Sip a bottomless cup of brew and I'm getting raw to this....
"So it took me a while to realize that Biggie is good, not because of his rhyme count, but because of his presence," he continues. "It took me a while to get to that point. And I feel like we converged a lot and we're at a much more similar place now than maybe at other points. And Stephen is also a dancer; I'm not a dancer at all. I've had to work on being fully present on stage in a way that's natural."
For Brackett, who was introduced to hip-hop by an older cousin who was a DJ, dancing provided a way to express himself. "It was this whole kind of cathartic connection to hip-hop," he recalls, "of really being able to get out there, more than just speaking your pain, like making something beautiful with it, exorcising whatever those demons were and then feeling empowered afterward. That's what kept me hooked."
That sense of empowerment started driving the Flobots founders over a decade ago, when Brackett's mother died of breast cancer when he was just fourteen. She'd suffered greatly, but never used that as an excuse. "My mother showed me what sacrifice was," he explains. "Like the idea of making yourself a resource, not a tool of judgment, but actually trying to satisfy the needs of the world around you. 'As long as you're alive,' she said, 'you can make a difference.'"
During his senior year at Brown University, when he got arrested at the WTO protest in Seattle, Laurie reached a similar conclusion. After school, he joined AmeriCorps in Providence, working with Youth in Action on immigrants'-rights issues, lobbying for police accountability and engaging in anti-war activism. One day, as he reflected on his efforts, he realized that if he really wanted to make a difference, music provided the perfect platform. "I thought, 'You know what? I wouldn't want to do music if it's just an indulgence, but if it's really an actual path to making change, then I would be willing to go whole hog,'" Laurie relates. "So I thought it through and thought, 'You know, if I'm going to do this, I have to really do what I can; I can't half-ass it and do it on the side while I'm working as a community organizer or something.'"
So Laurie moved back to Denver, where he reconnected with Brackett and met viola player Mackenzie Roberts. Longtime friend Andy Guerrero offered to back up the trio. Their debut show, in October 2005, was essentially Guerrero and his Bop Skizzum bandmates playing Flobots songs. "The first time we played with a band, it was a Rock the Vote show," Brackett recalls. "Andy sat with me, Jamie and Mackenzie, and was like, 'Here's the songs we can really back you up on and make bigger.' So we did that show, and that show was pretty much the turning point. It was just like, 'Whoa!' Somebody had your back when you had a band behind you. There was just so much more energy that you were creating on the stage, and there was so much more that you could give out to the audience, as well."
Within a few months, Guerrero recruited more players, including trumpeter Joe Ferrone and Jesse Walker — the heart of the band, Brackett says, because of his undying passion and commitment — who joined on bass, replacing Jimmy Stofer, who left to tour with the Fray. The rhythm section and lineup were completed with the addition of drummer Kenny Ortiz, a seasoned player who's been in numerous acts over the years, including Phantasmorgasm, one of the area's first rap hybrids.
"It was clear right from the start that everybody was on the same page in terms of wanting to push musical boundaries," Walker remembers. "But at the same time, everyone was still coming from very different influences. So it took us at least a year before we finally really rolled it into something that was presentable and that we really understood each other."
With seven members, there are not only divergent sensibilities at play, but also some very strong, distinctive personalities. Laurie is the ideological nerve center of Flobots, but he's also all over the place. "He's totally unconstrained by reality when he's coming up with ideas," Walker notes. "He just doesn't bother to wonder if something can be done."
Brackett is the band's harshest critic. There are times when he walks away from a performance disappointed, he says, and then he'll see the fire in Walker's eyes and have to reconsider. "I might be wrong," he says, "or even if I'm not wrong, I know somebody's having a great time. It helps keep me there."
Ortiz is a calming presence; any obstacles the group might face, the ace timekeeper has already seen. "He has a way of being silent for a two-hour practice," Walker says, "and then, all of a sudden at the end, saying three sentences that just resolve everything." Ferrone adds the levity. And Guerrero just keeps the band on track and focused. "He makes sure things are happening with the manager, the tour, the equipment," says Brackett. "It's fascinating. There's certain things that he does, that he's savvy about, that I wouldn't even think to ask, like, 'Okay, if we're playing this venue, where's the stage?' Or 'Where are the outlets?' Things like that. Whereas Jamie and I are like, 'Sure, you got the space? We'll do it.'"
At times, Guerrero is almost too pragmatic. He and Roberts recently got into a tangle over whether she needed a new amp. Fortunately, at Laurie's suggestion, Flobots had implemented a problem-solving system specifically designed to deal with interband conflicts. Rather than let issues fester, the members agree to table their concerns and discuss them later at a band retreat in the mountains.
"The great thing about the retreat is that it's helped us bring out into the open any of those unspoken disagreements that can often tear a band apart," Brackett says. "Just listening is important. It means so much when you're in the middle of a really heated argument and you know that the person is really listening to you. It takes away about 50 percent of that emotional vacuum that makes the conflict.
"So with those kinds of things," he goes on, "you want it to get to that boiling point. Because that boiling point is where the issues are, and when you get there you're really talking, and that rage can burn away and you've got your actual argument. If you frame it properly, if you give it a real space for it, it can be productive."
The retreats have also helped the players to clearly define their goals and determine how to work together to reach them. The group is more committed than ever to community involvement and is in the process of forming Flobots.org, a non-profit organization that will recruit and train members of their fan base to be foot soldiers in the field of community activism. In the past, the musicians have worked with organizations ranging from PeaceJam and Art From Ashes to Veterans of Hope; right now, they're focusing their efforts on Denver Children's Home, where they've been conducting workshops.
"Most people's idea of volunteering involves soup kitchens," Brackett notes. "But if we give people an actual skill set, we make that available, the amount of empowerment and the idea of change that they can bring to the world increases. And so the lies of our limitations start fading away, and the truth of what our potential is starts coming to the forefront.
"We're trying to create a holistic, sustainable model with our musicianship," he adds. "We want to walk the talk. I think a lot of what we respond to in hip-hop is what it does with the community. It's easy to have that rhetoric of positivity, where we're like, 'Hey, yo! Everybody be positive.' But we want to go past that, where people who are in the community see us visibly there. Our commitment to service is a core value of the band. We're trying to do whatever we can do to make music a full-time, sustainable gig, where we're sustaining ourselves and our community through our music and our message."
That message comes through loud and clear on Fight With Tools, Flobots' new album. Taking its title from a WWII propaganda poster, Tools finds the act pleading for an awakening with salvos like "There's a War Going on for Your Mind," "Mayday!!!" and "Stand Up." Despite at times seeming like a dystopian mash-up of Rage Against the Machine politics filtered through 311's sound system, the well-worn approach sounds fresh, thanks to Roberts's exceptional viola playing and Laurie's engaging rhymes and forceful cadence, perfectly augmented by Brackett's verses.
"I think our relationship in the band is very intimate, because it's also a friendship," Laurie explains. "So growth within the band is also growth of our friendship. I don't feel like there's a separate time where it's like friend time and then here we have band time. In the rehearsal space, a lot of times we're just playing around. Yesterday we were pretending to be video-game characters and walking into walls."
"The nerd stuff doesn't change," Brackett concludes. "Doesn't matter how many people come to your shows."
-Dave Herrera
September 20, 2007
-
Flobots Lead Denver with a Microphone
[+ Show ]
The Flobots are organizing a team of fans to take to the streets, but they won’t be armed with show ...The Flobots are organizing a team of fans to take to the streets, but they won’t be armed with show posters and scotch tape. The local hip-hoppers are training their street team as community activists, sending them to the front line of protests and projects as both casual observers and trained leaders. Ultimately they’ll have a group of skilled and dedicated fans involved in community service projects of all kinds.
“Ultimately we want people to come to our shows, have a good time and be informed,” says Andy Guerrero, funk guitar player for the Denver band. “But we also hope that we can succeed in one of the places where Rage [Against the Machine] failed. They got a message out there, but their fans didn’t do anything, they were just angry. We’re angry too, but that doesn’t do anything. One of the biggest things about our band is getting our members and our fans activated.”
FlobotsEmcee Jonny 5, or Jamie Laurie, leads the hybrid players with pulsing, image-heavy rhymes, like a general calling troops to arm. His lyrics hurdle Tom Morello’s enraged call outs, coming across somewhere between a motivating pat on the back and a downright dare. Even if you’re not ready to plot the revolution, an inspired rhythm section founded in ska and funk makes it hard to even stay seated. The band has certainly roused a following, recruiting more than 40 Denver locals ready for action. A grant from the Hunt Alternatives Fund has recently helped the group launch Flobots.org, a not-for-profit organization that will help organize and train the new community workforce.
In the meantime the Flobots walk their talk, teaching classes and organizing community projects in their off-time, working in education and civil rights to pay the bills. Mackenzie Roberts, who brings a soulful, enlightenment to the group on viola, and Guerrero (and most other Flobots at one time or another) teach music and recording classes the Denver Children’s Home, an organization that, according to their Web site, provides “a therapeutic, safe place” for abused and neglected children. Guerrero says working with the kids is inspirational; whether learning to play guitar, make beats or write a love song, they’re ecstatic to find creative freedom and a voice at the same time.
“I wouldn’t put all my energy into Flobots if I didn’t believe in it, the people in it, and what we’re trying to do,” says Guerrero. “It’s so awesome.”
All the energy spent has hardly gone unnoticed on the musical landscape, with the band’s debut full-length, Fight With Tools, turning the heads of local critics and selling out the Gothic Theatre at their album release show in September. The self-released album pushes hip-hop to it’s funk, jazz and rock and roll boundaries, with a little viola and trumpet thrown in for good measure. Ska energy, classical genius, stark hip-hop reality and the dancey indie underground converge under the banner waving of community politics. The album, like its source, is purely organic, pulling from Denver sources – like the interjections of a Veteran’s of Hope lecture at the Iliff School of Theology and the guest vocal work of Minnie, an elder at Jonny 5’s church – and inserting 303 shout outs where all possible. Tools, a year in the making, has already reached number one in sales at Twist and Shout, and is still steadily climbing up the CMJ charts.
“We were just going to do another EP,” says Guerrero, referring to their debut release, the Platypus EP, “but Brer Rabbit [Flobots’ emcee Stephen Brackett] and Jonny 5 came up with the ‘Fight With Tools’ idea – that all of these traditional tools that you used for change aren’t working anymore. So what’s the new tool to get stuff done? What are the tools within you and everybody else that you can use to change things?”
The Flobots are definitely on a new course for both the music and the political world, refining a powerful method of bringing people together and then putting them into action. Not that the regular “band stuff” isn’t revolutionary in it’s own right. The Flobots may be flag waving, but they’re also just giddy to be opening for both Lyrics Born and Public Enemy in the same week. They’re stoked to dress up like super heroes for their headlining show later this month at Herman’s Hideaway, looking forward to writing some love songs and, in Guerrero’s case, under the influence of all the creativity and talent he sees in his bandmates.
“We’re really new to this and we’re kind of testing it, this idea of a non-profit band,” he says. “We’re musicians. I’m a musician first and an activist second. It’s a balance of doing your art, recording a record, but also having a bigger purpose. It’s an exciting place to be – it’s kind of punk rock.”
-
CHUCK D BLOG
[+ Show ]
"We played BOULDER CO . . . the opening band were a great group named the FLOBOTS who along with so..."We played BOULDER CO . . . the opening band were a great group named the FLOBOTS who along with some great musicianship and rhyme flow set the stage well with political commentary."
- Chuck D PUBLIC ENEMY
-
www.raves.com - Fight with Tools Review
[+ Show ]
Flobots offer up a unique take on hip-hop, blending more familiar elements like funk, jazz and world...Flobots offer up a unique take on hip-hop, blending more familiar elements like funk, jazz and world, but also including classically influenced elements. Core melodies are performed by strings and brass while organic feeling percussion provide the hooks. This is totally hip-hop but it's totally something else as well. There's also an indie rock flavor at work here, and the press release isn't lying when it says the band is able to connect with both indie rock fans and devoted hip-hop listeners. Rap stylings mingle well with the non-traditional instrumentation; the music is both intelligent and edgy, and informed by enough grooves to keep the head bobbing. My one quibble is idealogical, I'm afraid. I was a bit soured by the socialist agenda that seems to be part of Flotbots' ideals. Even so, the overall anti-establishment bent of this heady hip-hop group is appealing and something someone like me, who has a problem with authority, can get behind. -- review by Kristofer Upjohn
-
Flobots "Fight with Tools" (Cover Story)
[+ Show ]
Denver Presents…Flobots
The seven piece band you have to see to believe…
Unsuspecting fans of al...Denver Presents…Flobots
The seven piece band you have to see to believe…
Unsuspecting fans of all ages pour into Red Rocks to catch the last of three nights of performances by Denver power Pop locals The Fray. The gales have calmed, and the sputtering rain has moved east in a here-comes-the-sun moment. Some make stops at the merch booth to purchase memorabilia, and those who do largely disregard the brightly colored flyers that adorn the tables. Something about a CD release… Some band called Flobots.
The clock strikes 7:30, and the audience is called to rapt attention by a funky guitar as the seven members of Flobots literally jump right into their first song, the dance-worthy “No W.” The band’s set unfolds as a myriad of quickly spit socially conscious rhymes, soul-tugging melancholic viola (don’t you dare call it a violin), grooving rhythms, and brassy trumpeting. All around the venue, teenagers and parents, post-collegiates, and professionals start to abandon their stone seats in order to get down and, well, shake their booties (if you will).
The thirty-minute time slot gives the Flobots just enough time to pique the interests of the crowd, and for over an hour following the set, the septet is bombarded by new fans asking for pictures and autographs. Shocked at the immediate accessibility and overwhelming friendliness of the band members, these new fans express their own incredulity at the talent and energy of the group – and most praise the band for their political and social message. One middle-aged man, however, approaches guitarist Andy Guerrero, shakes his hand, and says, “You’ve got great beats, but your politics are messed up.” Polarizing though they may be, Flobots lyrics have a way of wiggling their way under your skin.
The musical collective known as Flobots came together in early 2005, and they have since taken the Denver music scene by storm. Violist Mackenzie Roberts met lyricist Jamie Laurie (a.k.a. Jonny 5), while registering people to vote at a show featuring Funk favorite Bop Skizzum with Guerrero on guitar and lead vocals. Jonny 5 had been working with fellow Hip Hop artist Brer Rabbit (Stephen Bracket) in an early Flobots manifestation, and it wasn’t long before Roberts and Guerrero both joined the band. They quickly recruited former Funktion bass player Jesse Walker and Skizzum trumpet player Joe Ferrone. A year later, Denver drummer extraordinaire Kenny Ortiz joined forces with the rest of the group to create the Flobots as we know them today.
The band wasted no time booking shows and releasing their first EP Flobots Present… Platypus, which sold consistently well at shows and local record shops like Twist & Shout. Over the past two-and-a-half years, Flobots have generated a buzz spanning multiple states and a fan base that transcends genre, gender, race, and age. Their live show has taken on a life of its own: pure energy resonates between the band and the audience. They are at home sharing a stage with jam bands and indie Rock hipsters, rappers and Reggae groups. So what is it about this eclectic group that wins over so many fans from every walk of life?
“It’s really simple: we’re ‘progressive indie Hip Hop fusion,’” jokes Jonny 5 as he attempts to classify the band. “We have settled on ‘progressive Hip Hop’ because of the double meaning of ‘progressive,’” he goes on. “We’ll accept both the musical meaning and the social/political meaning.” At the same time, each band member brings in such disparate musical influences that any fan would be hard-pressed to associate Flobots with any specific genre or particular musical stimulus. Individual instruments even alter genre classifications from song to song. That is to say: the viola of “Handlebars” is not that of “The Rhythm Method (Move!).”
Brer Rabbit explains, “We’ve stumbled upon a sound. No, that’s not correct – we have worked really hard to get our synergy together, and we now have a sound.” Nowhere is this more apparent than on the group’s first full-length album Fight With Tools– to be released on Friday, September 21st at the Gothic Theatre in Englewood. “This record is very specific to the people that are on this record,” adds Walker. “If you removed any single person and replaced them with someone else, you would get something entirely different.”
Taken from a World War II era propaganda poster encouraging skilled laborers to help build weapons, Fight With Tools is a twelve-track concept album that deals with pressing social and political issues in contemporary American society and around the world. The album begs the question: if not weapons, what are the tools we must fight with? Brer Rabbit reflects, “The old tools aren’t working. What are the ones that will work? What are the ones we already have?”
The airtight music of Fight With Tools soars on more complete production than the band had on the Platypus EP. The band attributes its superior synchronization to more time spent together, including band “retreats.” Walker notes, “There is a definite correlation between our personal relationships and the power of the music,” as well as the fact that they are “more hypercritical of [themselves] than most bands.” This perfectionism shines through the flawless delivery of musically and lyrically difficult songs.
Fight With Tools opens with “There’s A War Going On For Your Mind,” a spoken word poem backed by tragic sighing viola and anticipatory marching percussion, which then quickly dives into the frenetic chaos of “Mayday!!!” The album takes the listener on a reversely entropic journey toward social progress through activism and awareness, closing with the optimistic “We Are Winning” and anthemic “Rise,” an encouraging tribute to communal action. Roberts says, “When we started writing the album, there was a sort of storyline that we wanted to follow. It was the progress of how we get from point A to point B.”
Songs like “Same Thing” are ripe with political awareness (what other musicians are talking about Leonard Peltier?) and blatantly state the band’s position on particular issues. Current live favorite “Stand Up” finds a place on the album and questions the current U.S. administration’s response to national disasters like Hurricane Katrina and “9/11,” as well as other governmental decisions. In this vein, Jonny 5 decided from the beginning that “music could be just as effective means of social change as… community organizations or working for a non-profit organization.”
Now, we have all heard popular musicians shoot their mouths off about particular issues, but very few actually put their actions where their mouths are. Flobots aim to bring the social consciousness of their music into a third dimension. Not only do they rap and sing about critical problems, they are unique in that they have concrete plans to create a community organization that will engage themselves – and fans – as volunteers. Brer Rabbit notes, “There are lots of things we can say theoretically about wanting to activate a population, but we are actually trying to create a real plan to allow people to be a positive force in the community.” The volunteers, or street team members, will receive various types of training so they might be qualified to work in different areas of the Flobots organization. Brer Rabbit continues, “It is one thing to be as big as Rage Against the Machine and have a big group of listeners that don’t do anything. We want our street team to be people who are actually armed with the training to help the community.”
Already, members of Flobots are in service locally as youth program coordinators and teachers working with kids and developmentally disabled adults. As a band, they are currently associated with a number of organizations in the Denver Metropolitan area, including Veterans for Hope and the United Artist Coalition for Kids, as well as the Denver Children’s Home, where they work with residential and day treatment youth who have experienced trauma. They hope that this list will continue to grow as more fans choose to get involved.
Flobots’ dedication to community is entwined with their appreciation for their fans. They throw their energy into engaging fans because of their commitment to creating a stronger community. According to Brer Rabbit, “Activism is not just about sitting around and getting angry – that’s hollow. Any activism that is worth the struggle in the community is also a celebration of all the different stages of mankind at once… to have that component is actually something that brings us together. That’s what we are going to use as our platform to try to change this world.”
What about those who disagree like the pleased-yet-disgruntled man at Red Rocks? Roberts says, “I’m glad that that happened. Even though he didn’t agree with what we were saying, he still heard what we said.” To join the Flobots’ revolution, check them out online, and make sure to buy your tickets in advance for the CD release show on September 21st – because with all this talent, space will surely run out fast.
-
Critic's Choice: The Flobots
[+ Show ]
At their last performance, the band was billed as "Flowbots" on Herman's Hideaway's marquee, but if ...At their last performance, the band was billed as "Flowbots" on Herman's Hideaway's marquee, but if this high-energy rap act keeps stealing the thunder from the headliners like it did that night, the Flobots shouldn't have that problem again any time soon.
After existing for years as a sort of choose-your-own-adventure ensemble, with different members coming and going, the Flobots have finally settled in with a live band.
With Bop Skizzum frontman Andy Guerrero on guitar and Mackenzie Roberts on the viola -- that's right, the viola -- not to mention a solid rhythm and horn section, the Flobots make the type of eclectic music that can swell to symphonic crescendos one moment and sample Super Mario Bros. the next.
Add MC Jamie Laurie's (aka Jonny 5) clever, rapid-fire lyrics, and the result is a fusion of organic sounds that's like one great, funky-ass stew. The Flobots guarantee new and exclusive material at every performance.
-
Audio Files: Platypus EP Review
[+ Show ]
Their newest album, Platypus, is an energetic effort that foregoes the more traditional turntable wo...Their newest album, Platypus, is an energetic effort that foregoes the more traditional turntable work in favor of the viola, trumpet and a live band.
The CD opens with a scratchy solo viola that sounds like it belongs on a Kronos Quartet record or a release from classical label, Deutsche Grammophon. It's a departure from the standard lexicon of hip-hop, but the band seems adept at merging disparate elements and forging them into a unified whole. Flobots take risks that pay off more often than not.
Mackenzie Roberts, on the aforementioned viola, provides a surprisingly strong counterpoint to the entire affair, while Joe Ferrone's trumpet gives the album a sparse sprinkling of pure, clear sound. The backbone team of Josh Kyser on drums and Jesse Walker on bass provides a funky backdrop that leaves ample room for Andy Guerrero to fill out the sound with his guitar work.
The album reaches its pinnacle on tracks such as "Jetpack" and "Handlebars," where the emcee skills of Jonny 5 and Brer Rabbit are highlighted through unrestrained joyous flows and creative arrangements.
-
Local only: Platypus EP Review
[+ Show ]
Platypus, the Flobots' new EP, waddles in the right direction, thanks to arrangements that push beyo...Platypus, the Flobots' new EP, waddles in the right direction, thanks to arrangements that push beyond mere funkiness.
The key in this respect is viola player Mackenzie "No Relation" Roberts, whose energetic playing provides unexpected heft and welcome drama to "Jetpack." She also boosts "The Moon," which affords plenty of room for vocalists Brer Rabbit and Jonny 5 to stretch their syllables.
supersonic
