James Brown Car Alarm

"Muncie’s own James Brown Car Alarm’s debut album, The Roots, shows signs of promise... the band sounds rich for a trio...JBCA will gather fans with their jam band appeal and blend of 311, The Black Crowes, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Incubus."
"The fourth track, Kaleidoscope is like a 311 song with a hint of Jane’s Addiction. It starts slow with a driving bass riff, then roars with distortion. This song really rules and is probably the best on the entire album. Goodnight Miss Mitchell confirms the 311 influence and it too is rather infectious, and rocks throughout. John Hottle's vocals are nice and at times playful...Flow Together has a progressive element of Incubus with it’s twisted rhythms. It seems like it would be nearly impossible to play live with it’s odd transitions, but it works rather well." - Trevor Smith, Album Reviewer - 91.3 WCRD fm - Muncie, IN

"The Roots" - James Brown Car Alarm
(independent)

Ball State's own James Brown Car Alarm aren't an easy band to pigeonhole into a convenient category.
The Roots kicks off with Say All You Want, a head-banging, blues-based slab of stoner rock in the vein of Kyuss, the former band of Queens of the Stone Age founders Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri. The title track follows, a low-key groove that never quite rises to a boil but will keep listeners' heads bobbing. Let Me Be almost sounds like it could be a lost Black Crowes' outtake from Southern Harmony and Musical Companion. Following that, Kaleidoscope is a wave of Sublime-like party rock that evolves into a heavy, ever-changing jam about two-thirds of the way through before it cools off and returns to its earlier, mellower form. And so on.
The easy review would be that James Brown Car Alarm does some nice things, but rarely leaves its comfort zone. The more accurate review would be that James Brown Car Alarm is able to do a variety of things throughout the course of The Roots, often by doing it subtly and making it sound easier than it really is. They are able to work in elements of blues, funk, reggae, jam rock and more without being obvious or radically altering the tone of an album that's solid and satisfying from beginning to end.

Standout tracks: Say All You Want, Let Me Be, The Caliber of Walker, This To You
Ben Kreider, All Access

- Ben Kreider, All Access - The Muncie Star Press

James Brown Car Alarm - The Roots
2008, James Brown Car Alarm

If you are a fan of blues-inflected guitar rock, you may have just found nirvana. And if you're a fan of reggae flavored rock with your blues, then you're home. James Brown Car Alarm come at you out of Muncie, IN with The Roots; an album full of rock, blues, reggae and jam elements. The party starts now.

Flow Together is one of my favorites, perhaps the most straightforward rocker on The Roots. Say All You Want and The Roots are tasty little numbers that won't let you go once you've heard them. I could easily here Robert Plant stepping in on Say All You Want back in his Led Zeppelin hey day. Kaleidoscope and Goodnight, Miss Mitchell are also not to be missed.

The guitar work is outstanding, and the rhythm section is as tight as they come. The real pleasure here is the vocals of Juice Bronnenberg, who brings a Margo Timmons-like reserve (Cowboy Junkies) to some wonderful blues/rock songs. James Brown Car Alarm is too talented to stay small. Check them out before they get too popular to be hip.

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)

-Wildy Haskell, Wildy's World - Wildy Haskell, Wildy's World - wildysworld.blogspot.com