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The Grouch Nothing Changes Outhouse On stage, the Grouch looks fed up. People think he sucks and he knows it. On Nothing Changes, the Grouch plays upon this bah-humbug persona but instead of lashing out--two fingers in the breeze--he confidently shows and proves. "Rap Is Senseless" best sums up Grouch's outlook: "I cannot lie and say I rapped since '85, I didn't battle in the parks when the art of b-boy was alive. But if I did I'd be the baddest emcee out, like many claim they are without a shadow of a doubt." The soundscapes on Nothing Changes are raw, underground four-track. Bass and snare are de-emphasized for clever loops and Grouch's aggravated monotone. He tacks words and phrases on top of each other to form a potent, teetering tower. Outhouse: 510/533-7238. (Todd S. Inoue) Pat Boone In a Metal Mood...No More Mr. Nice Guy Warner Has Pat Boone sold his soul to the rock & roll devil? From the sleeveless leather vest and temporary tattoo, Boone's hit the sex farm. The cheese doodle versions of Dio ("Holy Diver"), Alice Cooper ("No More Mr. Nice Guy") and Van Halen ("Panama") are much like Boone himself: clean, sterile, inoffensive. Don't be disappointed that the no-'nad medley of '70s-'80s rock & roll bacchanalia is performed big-band style. Not one sustained guitar solo exists on this CD. The jaunty arrangement gives the joke staying power and is on a par with the Moog Cookbook in sick entertainment value. Two words: It works. (TSI) Danny Tenaglia Gag Me With a Tune Maxi 25 Let me introduce you to New York's club music, or, rather, allow DJ/producer supremo Danny Tenaglia do the honors. His "presentation" Gag Me With a Tune is chock-full of the big, bad apple's underground booty music and features production kingpins like Cevin Fisher, Shay Jones and Daphne. Mixed live at a New York nightclub, this 16-track package of nonstop bump may not help you concentrate for exams, but under the floodlights, it's pure ecstasy. Cevin Fisher's "The Way We Used To (Hard Mix)," an old-school groove with a '90s spin, and "I Found It (DMC Mix)" are merely the tiptop of this heap of happy feet beats. (Nicky Baxter) Kinfolk Each & Every Day American Kinfolk bump that rata-ta-gat junk. Even so, they do it with a certain style, or is it swagger? Whatever. On Each & Every Day the duo evidences, a keen grasp of pop music fundamentals. Even as Kinfolk are rattling off as much trash as the next 'hoodie, it's hard to resist the sproinging guitar and sirenlike cooing (c/o a honey called Li'l Bit) on "Handle That Shit!" More significantly, the tune flaunts Scrap Dog and Mr. Slic's skills as rhyme-slingers. With their steely-but-smoove flow, you just know these dawgs are straight West Coast. Thanks to multi-instrumentalists Dave Knight and some guy called Stevo, Kinfolk gets away with all kinds of clichéd murder and mayhem. It's just too bad the pair allow themselves to get locked down in lyrical dead ends. (NB) [ Metro | Metroactive Central | Archives ]