Album Details

• Artist: Cactus's
• Album: New Bones
• Label:
• Year of Release: 2010
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2011-04-13

With elements of no-wave and hardcore, power trio Cactus's heroes are easy to spot. What makes "New Bones" interesting are not the Fugazi, The Embarrassment or Ted Leo echoes; this band's own heart is in every one of these sometimes jittery and math-y, sometimes abstract, sometimes face-scraping attack. Energy is not in short supply, nor are musical ideas.

Dropping a lilting pop chorus in the middle of an almost Ubu-esque pointillist track like "Hanging Meat" takes balls, but this band's got ‘em. The skanky melody of "Flagpit" stabs at waltz level; the stunning "Purple Coyote" is close to needing a new category to describe it (White Funk? Spastic Blues?). "Tiny Teeth," "Queen Bee" and "Perverted Shark" are scary good in their uses of punk, reggae and pop to create their own glorious mess. Even more or less generic pop tunes like "Red to Yellow" and "Daddy" do not raise eyebrows. What could be more subversive than getting this band space on an arena gig?

Nashville's Cactus's have something special going on. , "New Bones" is an appropriate title for this, a record full of daring, dance and unrepentant drool. A classic borne of having open ears and fearless minds, Cactus's also deliver their magic with another essential of a great band-fun.

User Reviews and Comments

on 2011-07-14 hstisgod Said:

great review of a great album Mike!!!
Rating: 9/10