33 rebellions per minute
1994
Consolidated, BUSINESS OF PUNISHMENT
Finally obeying their earlier album title PLAY MORE MUSIC, Consolidated, 3 melody-averse white
liberals, put together on BUSINESS OF a rhythmically compelling stew of hip-hop, industrial, and techno,
lightly spiced with cool jazz and Floydian space noises. The real focus remains the lyrics, an interesting
showcase of the best and worst in popular leftist rhetoric. Worst is the pro-legal-abortion "Butyric Acid"
(though it's good heavy techno a la Die Warzau), which rhymes "If you don't want a Nazi in your house,
don't let one/ If you don't want an abortion, don't get one". Gee, why not "If you hate fraudulent claims,
don't stake one/ don't wanna see fractured limbs? don't break one/ hate killer engineered disease? don't
make one!", and may the free-est market win? This is argument? Also repugnant is "Worthy Victim",
plotting appropriate deaths for right-wing celebs who dare disagree with Consolidated's world-view, a
hateful exercise that anyway gets Clarence Thomas's wrong: he _should_ be beaten to death by white cops
misled by his skin color, I mean duh! Also they think it wrong to hate gays (agreed) but just fine to hate
white trash. Yet, "Business Of Punishment" is a smart take on the deliberate maintenence of an underclass
("they must remain weak so we can continue their treatment"). "No Answer To A Dancer" wrestles
intelligently with the thought that they might be _wrong_ to condemn pornography before explaining their
own stance. "Empower Yourself" passes the mike to the audience, which Consolidated does at every show,
seeking political debate. And every track, designed to provoke both motion and thought, should be
something even honorable Republicans prefer to standard gangsta- or bravado-rap.
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