www.pitchshifter.com

by Stanton SwihartPretty ingenious idea: publicize your album by titling it after your website URL. And this is music that deserves to be publicized. On their first major-label release, Pitchshifter maintains its socially -- and politically -- conscious views while making a huge progression musically. www.pitchshifter.com melds the band's usual punk intensity with the hard and fast (bpm speeds are included with each song for the curious) rhythms of drum'n'bass, but with a distinctly organic feel, perhaps a result of the band sampling live drums. J.S. Clayden and John A. Carter show themselves to be masterful programmers. The addition of grinding metallish guitars courtesy of new member Jim Davies also enhances the live feel. Songs such as "Microwaved" and the excellent single "Genius" are dynamic and exciting, and have a dangerous edge that is missing from much current drum'n'bass, which tends to sacrifice intensity for complexity. Even when Pitchshifter slows down the beats, as on "w.y.s.i.w.y.g." -- perhaps the best song on the album -- there is an unbridled fury that shoots through www.pitchshifter.com like a train. Pitchshifter is only getting better. (For the second straight album, the band has included free samples at the end of the CD for the use of listeners.)