Streets Railroads And The Great Strike of 1877

Still disenfranchised about American society and riled up about it, the former Dead Kennedys singer takes issue with Wall Street, Hollywood, consumer nature, fast food, and white people in general on Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School of Medicine's third album, White People & the Damage Done. Backed by a musically fierce band that includes Ween/Butthole Surfers bassist Andrew Weiss, drummer Paul Della Pelle, and guitarists Ralph Spight and Kimo Ball, the 54-year-old frontman sounds as spirited as he did in his early days. In fact, for the fast, furious "Road Rage" and "Mid-East Peace Process," he and his band match the blistering energy of early-'80s American hardcore staples like Black Flag (good to see that Keith Morris' OFF! isn't the only group carrying the torch) and, yes, the Kennedys.

This band again deals multiple influences, which in the end makes the sound hard to define. It sounds dark and into bombast arrangements, sometimes reminding me of the mysterious and somewhat ritual style of The Virgin Prunes, but then also more into psychedelic treatments. The vocals of Marthynna remain pretty intriguing and only accentuating the occult side of the sound.