Carbon, Silicon - The Last Post (CD 2009)

Mick Jones of the Clash and Big Audio Dynamite, along with Tony James of Generation X, has put together an interesting group here. Carbon/Silicon was founded by Jones and James in the interesting of spreading music, not making a profit. All of the band’s recordings up to this point have been strictly through download via C/S’s website, completely free of charge.

Novel in concept, but I guess they’ve switched up their views regarding file sharing, in that there’s a “UNAUTHORIZED COPYING IS PUNISHABLE UNDER FEDERAL LAW” warning across the front of the cd and the back of the case. That’d be a little more impressive if the music was worth pirating. It’s not bad, but it’s bordering on old-fogey reggae influenced punk. It’s like Big Audio Dynamite, even to the point of featuring former BAD bassist Leo “Eazykill” Williams, but just a little less sample-heavy.

The lyrics are a tad heavy-handed – “The Magic Suitcase,” about a suitcase bomb is about as subtle as its subject matter, as is “War on Culture,” whose title pretty much sums it up. The best track is “What the F**k,” but that has more to do with its “Clash City Rockers” lifted guitar riff than any sort of actual lyrical content - which is, for the most part, various problems alternated with “what the f**k?!”

But...what the f**k!