The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis

  The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis bring the noise, and I mean that as a compliment. Genre-smashing guitarist Anthony Pirog teams with electric bassist Joe Lally and drummer Brendan Canty as the Messthetics, a collaboration that began in 2016. Lally and Canty got their start playing in Fugazi, the Washington, D.C.-based band that lasted from 1986 until the group took an “indefinite hiatus” in 2002. They play with the locked-in ferocity and drive of the best punk music, leaving Pirog to dip and dive and soar on guitar. Add in the big brawny sound of tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and you have the right ingredients for a funky and rocking good time. This unit’s blend of elements reminds me of music by the likes of Ron Shannon Jackson and his Decoding Society or the Sonny Sharrock Band. At their best, the Messthetics are playing hard, just on the edge of crashing and burning up. The few attempts at slower tempos, like the overly long and dirge-like Boatly or the mellow Railroad Tracks Home, don’t fit the rhythm section’s style nearly as well. Lewis’ invigorating solo on the latter almost pulls it of the doldrums, but not for long. Favorites include the rousing That Thang featuring a raging solo by Pirog, the relatively sedate groove of The Time is the Place, and the impressive Fourth Wall, which closes the album with its headlong pace and some inventive blowing by Lewis. Recommended. 

Impulse! (CD and vinyl); James Brandon Lewis (ts) Anthony Pirog (g) Joe Lally (b) Brendan Canty (d); Takoma Park, MD, no dates specified; L'Orso/ Emergence/ That Thang/ Three Sisters/ Boatly/ The Time is the Place/ Railroad Tracks Home/ Asthenia/ Fourth Wall; 46:19. www.impulserecords.com