finetune artist: Consolidated

Highly political funk/rap/rock trio from San Francisco, USA, comprising Adam Sherburne (vocals, guitar; the son of an American Two Star General), Mark Pistel (sampler/technician) and Philip Steir (drums). Their approach to rock music reflects the anti-establishment, left field approach of Crass or Minor Threat; their "mission" is to agitate, to provide more than a passive spectacle for an audience to consume. At the end of gigs the microphone is turned open to the audience, a format which has annoyed as well as intrigued paying customers (witness "Play More Music", on which they are berated by audience members for not doing just that). As a background to their generally impressive arrangements, projected visuals comprise various images of totalitarianism, linking such themes as animal abuse to men's treatment of women. Acknowledging themselves as "Typical Men' despite their political stance, they also co-operate with the polemic of female cohorts the Yeastie Girlz (Cammie, Kate and Wendy). The latter achieved recognition for their frank exposition of the importance of cunnilingus to a good relationship. They made a surprise move to a major label for 1994"s Business Of Punishment, the wisdom of which was hinted at in the title of the delayed follow-up, Dropped. While Consolidated continue to tread a path on the right side of dogma, their status as artists of conscience serves as a reminder of the potential of music to inform and improve. Sherburne has also recorded solo as Childman.

Listen to Consolidated at Finetune.