by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Their sonic assault may seem out of place on a major-affiliated label, but Blood Brothers’ boundary-pushing effort Crimes remains one of the most intense listens of 2004. Lyrical bombs are lobbed at the media, at celebrity-saturated culture, the ass-backwards music industry and America’s foreign policy through the alternating lulling falsetto and shrieks of Jordan Billie and Johnny Whitney. If their barbed lyrics prefer to nest in the subconscious, the Seattle band’s bipolar arrangements and genre-busting instrumentation definitely make their presence known.

“A lot more people are getting into music now that reaches outside of the traditional pop music format,” says bassist Morgan Henderson. “I love pop music like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but I also really love stuff like Keiji Haino. When you go to places like Japan, you see that kind of music really becoming part of the mainstream. We stayed at a hotel in New York and there were DFA [record label] sampler CDs in the room. I can’t help but think, some businessman listening to a DFA sampler while sitting on his hotel bed to be a really positive thing.”

If it’s true that bad politics breeds good art, the recent parade of Republican scandals should be a veritable grab-bag of ammunition for Blood Brothers’ next record. But don’t count on too great an onslaught of anti-Bush rhetoric, as Henderson primarily has America’s battle of the bulge in his crosshairs.

“The obvious problem right now is Bush’s foreign policy, but I don’t think enough people talk about America’s problem of obesity and its subsequent health risks, and realize we are in a crisis. The problem with genetically modified food and the FDA approving it is just ridiculous. There is so much sugar added to everything now, and they are serving it up in schools and creating these time bombs. I just feel that they’re really selling people out. It seems so obvious because when we fly from Europe and into a Chicago airport or something, we see the problem right away—yet nobody seems to be doing anything about it.”

With Coheed & Cambria, Dredg and Mewithoutyou at Metropolis tonight, Thursday, Nov. 10, 8 p.m., $25, all ages

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