{Originally published in UR Chicago Magazine, July 2008}
The Saturday Knights
Mingle
Light in the Attic Records, July 24
Rating: 2.5/5.0
The confluence of rap and rock tends to have a negative connotation lately. Done properly, however, and that first genre-melding collaboration between Aerosmith and Run-DMC leaves an appropriately positive legacy. Seattle party-rappers, The Saturday Knights, make their attempt to successfully mix rap and rock on their aptly-named debut, Mingle. As DJ Suspence playfully mixes skater punk, surf jams, and classic rock, Barfly and Tilson refreshingly rhyme about elbow patches and girls they meet at the dog park. A few tracks – “45”, “Count It Off”, “Motorin’” – skillfully fuse the necessary hooks and beats to prove their worth, but unfortunately Suspence is a tad too liberal with the mixture, and the album comes off as a bit schizophrenic. A promising debut, but the Knights could benefit from narrowing down just how much they mingle if they want to build their own legacy.
-Jason Horine
