MAD RAD – The Youth Die Young

Seattle is a strange little world. A place where everything is separated by about 1.5 degrees of freedom (You lose Kevin Bacon). Case in point: I like to drink on the hill at Liberty bar (a lot) and I love everybody there.  I have also been hearing amazing things on the hill about Mad  Rad (but have never made it to one of their burn-down-the-building shows). So worlds collided tonight when a friend post a photo of the CD release party and I finally realized one of my favorite people who works at Liberty, Nate,  is also in Mad Rad as Buffalo Madonna.  So I skipped on over to iTunes and was thoroughly blown away and bought both the old and new album.

The album opens with the solid fist-pumping track “Caveman”. Mad Rad let us know they are ready to go toe-to-toe with the chorus: “Fuck you, that’s how we do around here”.  “I Want Your Blood” bares its teeth and goes for the jugular without hesitation.

As the album progresses the themes turn inward and the tone darkens making for a nicely balanced listen. Reflecting that eventually the party burns down. The hangover follows the same arc as the sun. You wonder where you lost one shoe. Who can you trust. Where is this all heading?  Did everyone make it home last night? “Underwater” and “Love In A Strange World” represent this evolution very nicely.

Powerful Dark Electro Hip-Hop that will fuck you up and then buy you shot of whiskey.