Unida
Coping with the Urban Coyote (Man’s Ruin)
by Craig Regala
The second and forth songs on this CD are the one-two punch that busts this fine band out of any possible rock genre-inflected ghetto into classic status. Coping With The Urban Coyote is the full-on ass-cracking rhythmic push of rock’n’roll with no retro or avante guarde filtering. Unida comes on mid-tempo and strong as classic kick-ass AC/DC, wound as tight and powerful as James Brown’s power funk. Not “funky,” but supremely groove-loaded, laying into the lockdown of a chord or two, relying on perfectly wrung cymbals to accent the gravitational power of the drummer’s snare/kick pulse. It works the same power as The Stooges’ “Little Doll” matt jam, or Bo Diddly’s signature pulse beat. These eight songs don’t have a hair out of place – no loose ends, no extraneous bullshit, nothing to signify as “modern” (which would date them as soon as fashion changed the pop landscape). Hell, there’s nothing even particularly self-conscious about ‘m… They just are. They make rock music with as sure a grasp and feel for what makes music work as any unit currently afloat.
(610 22nd St. #302 San Francisco, CA 94107)