![]() While the Chilis fixated on sex and Rage skewered social injustice, 311 floated somewhere in between. Starting with their 1993 debut, Music, the pair traded rhymes and verses that advocated unity and smoking weed. Martinez were the first co-frontmen to share singing and rapping duties. Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage Against the Machine may have been the first rock bands to incorporate rap, but 311’s Hexum and S.A. Worse, the song contains this line: “We’re breaking away from the past/reaching a new plane at last.” Take the recycled formula of “The Great Divide”: tough guitar intro/Hexum rap/harmonizing chorus/Martinez rap/repeat. Much of the album is dull familiarity, a retread rife with expected song structures, indulgent effects, and silly studio chatter. That’s why Stereolithic suffers: nothing here suggests a break from those record-contract shackles. But while free from corporate constraints, this effort plays like a haphazard collection of outtakes. You get the feeling the guys spitballed titles until they got one that could reveal a subliminal 3-1-1 on the cover art: STER3OL1TH1C. ![]() Frontman Nick Hexum has lately made much of their recent independence from “corrupt” and “incompetent” record labels, while praising his group’s prevailing “eclectic-ness.” Such self-hype reflects the go-get-’em earnestness of veterans going it alone for the first time. ![]() The timing of Stereolithic, out today on 311 Records, was a calculated marketing move from the inside. Today, some 25 years after forming, 311 seems to value brand over band. The shows boast a setlist spanning 60-plus songs, can run as long as five hours, and always feature a stunning drum solo involving all five band members. ![]() The first event happened in 2000, in pre-Katrina New Orleans, and has since returned every two years, with few exceptions. Out of respect for their fan base, the group manage to cram all 21 songs onto one compact disc, saving their mavens a little loose change left over for T-shirts, stickers, and posters, all advertised on the inside.311 has spent months promoting its first proper album since 2009, rallying the base with email blasts, even setting a March 11th release date to coincide with the concert tradition known as 311 Day. ![]() It's a heady blend of styles that makes the amalgam that is 311 work so wonderfully, and as guitarist-vocalist Nick Hexum has said, "Transistor is our way of saying that all living things are connected, that we are all conductors of electricity - that we're all part of the same massive energy source and in this way, we're all equal." Tracks like the mesmerizing dub cut of "Inner Light Spectrum," the funk of "No Control," the hip-hop flavor of "The Continuous Life," and the almost brutal soundscape of "What Was I Thinking?" (complete with walkie-talkie vocal sounds) showcase the band's love for diverse musical styles and their ability to blend them together into something new, fresh, and compelling. 311, the eclectic musical quintet whose unique and hypnotic blend of reggae, funk, hard rock and hip-hop reached a world audience with the success of their self-titled 1995 album, return with Transistor, their fourth release for Capricorn Records and their most fully realized and ambitious recording yet. ![]()
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