Sound Advice

by Inlander Staff


Humpty Back Together -- Yeah, we never thought about the Digital Underground any further than a keg-driven college dance floor, either -- but, as it turns out, they're still around. And like all one-hit-wonders who just won't go away, they'll be playing the Big Easy this Saturday with E-40, Maniac LOK and Portland's Cool Nutz. Don't remember them? Do the words "Humpty Dance" refresh your memory?


Brushed aside by the gangster, cop-killer rap of the late '80s and early '90s, the only way the Digi Underground even broke onto national airwaves was with its over-the-top lyrics and blatancy. Sure, they got airplay and "The Humpty Dance" earned a permanent spot on those cheesy mix CDs that your friends burn for you (entitled "Road Trip Soundtrack" or "Clubbin' ") -- but check out the lyrics. They may not be all that revolutionary, but any song that can use five different words for "butt" (without using that one) is worthy of a listen in our book.





Heavies for God -- Is "Christian Black Metal" and oxymoron? Probably so. Especially to metal fans who for years were the targets of overzealous Christians hell-bent on saving them from what the preachers used to call "the devil's music." And especially to all those hardcore evangelicals who stood up at pulpits and in front of television cameras to denounce heavy metal -- and before that, rock 'n' roll in general -- as Satanic. Oh but we've come a long way since those days, haven't we? These days, any kind of rock can be transformed into Christian rock as long as the lyrics (like those of Christian black metal band Extol, which plays Fat Tuesday's this Friday night) openly celebrate Jesus. Don't believe it? For proof, duck into the Extol show this weekend -- with the Showdown, Winter Solstice and Becoming the Archetype -- and check it out for yourselves.





Publication date: 05/26/05