For those who aren’t up to speed: This Jim Jones is not the American rapper. He’s the British indie heathen who used to front The Jim Jones Review, a gang of in-your-face garage-rock thugs and proto-punk terrorists. Since they imploded, the scab-throated agent provocateur has been at the helm of The Righteous Mind, who are a little more Tom Waits, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Nick Cave and a little less Stooges, MC5 and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, if you follow my drift. Which is to say: On their sophomore album CollectiV (it’s also his fifth release overall, which is presumably the point of that capital V) they are still ready, willing and able to crash, bash and thrash an old-school groove-rocker at the drop of a gold medallion. But they’re also unafraid to ease up on the throttle and venture into the subterranean realms of psyche-rock, twisted roots, hoodoo-voodoo and narcotized lounge balladry. Righteous indeed. Not to mention fearsomely intense, unrepentantly black-hearted, magnetically dynamic and just plain unhinged. Enter at your own risk. Ignore them at your peril.
STANDOUTS: Satan’s Got His Heart Set On You, Attack of the Killer Brainz, Out Align.
