jeffvrabel.com I humorist and music writer

Billboard — Angry, pitchforks-in-the-streets populism has few busier cheerleaders than Tom Morello and Boots Riley, who, with their respective groups Rage Against the Machine and agit-hip-hop act the Coup, have reigned as some of the left’s most visible, visceral voices. But though a floundering economy, bombed-out GOP and a season or two of corporate bailouts have provided them with a fat barrel of fish to shoot, this rap-rock hybrid simmers instead of seethes, never quite mustering the blood-boiling rage of its principals’ previous material. Morello’s blue-steel guitar work is in fine form (when is it not?), and Riley pops off some nice shots on tracks like “The Squeeze” and “100 Little Curses,” where he wishes poverty, bad cocaine and a sucky life on his aristocratic targets. And Galactic drummer Stanton Moore acquits himself nicely in the rap-rock universe. But too much of it is disappointing jingoism (“Fight! Smash! Win!”) that falls well short of the vicious punch these guys are capable of. Maybe it’s just harder to rage when the machine’s in such lousy shape already.

• Street Sweeper Social Club – 100 Little Curses.mp3

• Street Sweeper Social Club – Paper Planes (MIA cover).mp3