The Dirty Heads "Cabin by the Sea" CD review

The Dirty Heads
                                                                     
"Cabin by the Sea" CD review

From reggae and ska to hard core and intelligent hip hop, this amazing new CD from The Dirty Heads is a trip to listen to – taking us on a stylistic journey down the California coast. The package I received contained not only the CD, but a DVD chronicling the making of the record. From listening to the music, and watching the entertaining DVD, I was able to discern the following:

1)      The Dirty Heads smoke a ton of reefer, drink a lot of cold beer and good whiskey, hang outside at bonfires, and play some of the best damn music I have heard in a long time.  
2)      They have a fucking riot while they do #1.

The band, from Huntington Beach, California, was founded in 1996, by singer Jared “Dirty J” Watson, and guitarist / singer Dustin “Duddy B” Bushnell. They had a long road to success, but in 2010 hit it big with an alternative hit, “Lay Me Down”. That song featured vocals and guitar from Rome Ramirez of Sublime w/ Rome.

Their new release, Cabin by the Sea, contains the song “Spread Too Thin” another independent hit, heard locally on CFNY, 102.1.  After the intro (Arrival), the band gets right down to business with the acoustic flavored title track, (Cabin by the Sea) weaving from fun Beach Boy melodies to alcohol induced raps. Fender Rhodes piano, extra percussion, and great acoustic guitar work make this a unique song. On the song “Disguise”, horn flourishes meld with Duddy B’s rapping, before Dirty J comes in with an entertaining chorus. Duddy B comes back with a Spanish style acoustic guitar solo, and then the harmonies come in. This is great stuff, well written, entertaining, and well produced.

The two highlight songs for me on this recording are “Smoke Rings” and “Mongo Push”, two of the most imaginative and driving hip hop songs I have ever heard. The featured rappers (The Funky Homosapien and Rome) on these two songs add a hard edge to this record that I really love. At one point, Rome boasts while rapping, “If you do not clap for me, probably you’re amputee!” The other standout songs for me are the reggae flavored “Your Love” featuring Kymani Marley, and “We Will Rise”, an outstanding reggae anthem for 2012.  This record winds through your brain like a van full of stoned twenty somethings winds through a Southern California highway. So burn some tree, get your head around a bush, burn some picket fences, and grab this awesome CD…You will not be disappointed!

Rock On,

Bud Redding    
                                                                                                  
8/22/12