Plan9 Music

Reviews:

There's something about a band from New York City radiating attitude andrebellion that will always sound cool if they do it properly. It is in thistime-honored spirit that A.R.E. Weapons slithers out of the downtown Manhattanelectroclash scene to drop this ultra-inspired debut. Sure, they've hada little help that many a band wouldn't mind receiving to get their messageacross—super-connected downtown DJ Paul Sevigny manages them, and his sisterChloe goes out with Weaponsman Matthew McAuley. But there's no way to reallyhear that on an album, really, and all that comes through here is pure New YorkCity roughness and mayhem, funneled through drum machines, guitars and 303s,sounding as effortlessly cool as any legend in the making should.

Working their way from Suicide and Jim Carroll all the way up to Cop Shoot Cop,Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and acid house, A.R.E. Weapons have managed to cannilycondense lessons of snot-filled cool from all of NYC's indigenous musicscenes. "Strange Dust" shows the trio resurrecting the ghost of earlyBeastie Boys before the West Coast seized them, and "Street Gang"shows they've taken expert Suicide notes on electronic music's outsiderstatus. Still, as tough as they sound, they can still emit rays of hope on "HeyWorld," which if we're lucky will convince a new generation that "rebellion"doesn't mean Justin Timberlake wearing an MC5 tee on the cover of VIBE.And at any rate, punks young and old can at least know that the mantle of NYCcool rests on strong—if eternally slouched—shoulders.