CD Reviews

Rubblebucket | Omega La La

Sin Duda Records (2011)

By ARIEL SHEARER | August 30, 2011

3.0 Stars

Although bands often sacrifice musical quality for the sake of maintaining a weirder image, Rubblebucket keep buzzing forward, as impressive as they are idiosyncratic. This third album delivers sonic spanks and makes you call them Daddy — or Mommy, as lead woman saxist-vocalist Kalmia Traver reminds us in first single "Came Out of a Lady." The track's happy-strange lyrics are a good fit for the sound and spunky attitude of a horn-driven rock album, which elsewhere includes the poppier "Silly Fathers" and the dance-bomb of "L'Homme." Formerly Boston-based, Rubblebucket are New England "assholes who moved to Brooklyn," but, I'm sort-of glad they did: now we know not even a city like New York could force them to refine that big, weird sound. Plenty of rock bands play with trumpet or sax, but Rubblebucket is run by a rebellious horn section that doesn't care for genre confines. Whereas debut Rose's Dream (2008) highlighted Traver's dreamy-poetic lyrics and distinct melodic howls, and 2009's heavier homonymous record grabbed rock and roll by the balls, Omega La La is more playful. It even rebels from the Rubblebucket norm with airy, pop-friendly tracks like "Triangular Daisies" and "Raining." All three albums hang on danceable Afrobeat rhythms that are so body-grabbing you can expect to see bras flying during live shows.

RUBBLEBUCKET | Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm Ave, Boston | September 30 @ 8 pm | 18+ | $15 | 617.562.8800

Topics: CD Reviews , Paradise Rock Club, Music, rock, More

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