Album Review:
Sex, Drugs, and Self-Control
By John Reuben

By Paul Gibson | February 15th, 2010 | Posted In Album Review

Gotee Records

{December 22, 2009}

John Reuben‘s new record, Sex, Drugs, and Self-Control, is sure to cause many parents a headache, or at least the title will. Reuben admitted that he didn’t foresee the title being as polarizing as it has become, with a few stores refusing to stock it lest it scare away well-meaning members of the older generation. The title, as he put it, is a representation of his life and the narrow path that an artist of faith must walk, especially in the music world. For that matter, most of us, albeit probably on a smaller scale, deal with these things around us and that’s where self-control come in.

Helming this project himself and relying less on other’s input on this record has served Reuben well, bringing back the quirky dissatisfied-with-the-world feel of Boy vs. The Cynic, minus the guitars. His only help on SDSC came from newcomer Seth Earnest, who co-produced and engineered the album and also brings his voice to some of the tracks.

“Jamboree” kicks off the fun with a beat and sound that could be mistaken as the best track you never heard off of Beck’s Odelay album. “Ringtones for nickels and dimes. We don’t hear music jukebox needs change. Scratch your temple the kids are listening. Think-tank says short attention span” Reuben pokes fun at the music industry throughout, even as his own label experiments on how the get new music into the hands of the masses.

“Everett” has a hypnotic beat and some of the fastest spiting Reuben has ever done, side by side with almost half-spoken, half-rhymed, half-sung verses that equal 150% goodness.

Thinking man’s hip-hop is at its best here, giving more that a series of thuds, keys, and scratches. This is the most fun you will ever have with social commentary.

I feel like I have just scratched the surface of all that this album has to offer, but a title like “Paranoid Schizophrenic Apocalyptic Whisper Kitten” has a way of leaving you speechless.

~Paul Gibson

Favorite Tracks:

Jamboree

Radio Makes You Lonely

Everett

Wooden Whistle Man

No Be Nah

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