This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
New York jazzbos Sex Mob have one of the most distinctive sounds around, thanks to leader Steven Bernstein’s unusual instrument of choice — the slide trumpet — and their unique fusion of downtown avant-hip and bumptious New Orleans joy.
Both those elements are in full effect once again on the band’s fifth superior full-length Dime Grind Palace. But this time out, they deploy them with more focus on original material — which is both a good thing and a bad thing. Good in that Bernstein delivers a whole whack of superbly sleazy tunes and arrangements, from the blaxploitation porn-soul of the title cut to the horror-flick funk of Mothra and the post-bopfests Artie Shaw and Conk Buster. But bad in that you miss the cool contemporary covers of Nirvana, CSNY and Prince that graced their last albums. Which hardly makes Dime Grind Palace a grind, even if it isn’t their most accessible disc.
