Dash Rip Rock

January 25 - February 1, 1 9 9 6

***Dash Rip Rock

GET YOU SOME OF ME

(Sector 2)

Dash Rip Rock forgo attitude and pretense in favor of the stuff that really matters: neat-o guitars, semi-bumpkin R&B spirit, and the perfect mix of brains, jokes, and sentiment. For 10 years these boys from Baton Rouge have been spit-shining their goods with more than enough gusto to get a body plugged in and hoppin'. If Dash conjure a countrified eloquence, it's often tinged with enough irreverence and force to call to mind jackboots and anarchy.

"(Let's Go) Smoke Some Pot" is an ode to reefer done to the tune of "Let's Go to the Hop." Pretty funny, but what'll really stand the time test are the numbers that bump and grind, or that stab you in the heart. "Ridin' into Memphis" and "Shootin' Up Signs" are masterful Southern-fried boogie. As for the heart stabbers, "Houseboat" is a quiet fantasy about floating through life: "Rolling with the water/Rising when we please/Eating when we're hungry, livin' a life of ease." And "The Heart I Break" is a non-cloying break-up tale; Bill Davis sings it with an unwavering honesty that says he's gone tramping down that road before. Besides their being goofballs, what's beautiful about Dash is how plainspoken and downright touching they can be.

-- Amy Finch