The Way Things Work [Explicit Lyrics]

Unknown Instructors | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 20, 2005)
• Original Release Date: September 20, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics
• Label: Smog Veil Records
• ASIN: B000B6KQO8
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #409,850 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Legends abound regarding the greatness of The Minutemen, and anyone not aware have an opportunity to witness Mike Watt and George Hurley’s innovative rocknroll in ‘We Jam Econo, the Story of the Minutemen’, currently playing in art theaters across the country. Now teamed with Joe Baiza and Jack Brewer of Saccharine Trust, along with upstart lyricist and vocalist Dan McGuire (compiler of the recent ‘Jamnation’ comp), the five-piece goes by the name Unknown Instructors. This debut release is packed with 15 tracks of improvisational prog-agit-free jazz-punk rock and minimalist beat poetic stylings. High art indeed in the vein of the best of the German 70’s improv-proggers. “But for every tongue-in-cheek (self) reference, The Way Things Work offers a passel of head-swiveling musical ideas—the second-line shuffle that Hurley applies to "The New Bluesmen," the Jimmy Garrison-styled bass thrum that Watt brings to "Scansion." It's a sound that's virtually impossible to distill into a one-line description. Or is it?” –Dave Sprague

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars for those with a real appetite., November 5, 2009

By 

S. Ron Butler "meh kaleckahi" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Way Things Work (Audio CD)

these improvisations smash genres in a manner that will either make you very uncomfortable or thrill you to bits.

i love this record and it drives me kinda nuts that so few are aware of this group's body of work. i find it both gripping and driving while relaxing and smooth.

Jaco may have invoked the term "punk jazz" but this is the closest thing *I've* heard to such a claim.

a rare record of semi-chaos with the consistency to act as an all consuming experience or soothing background patter. at least it is for me.

i've always wanted to be in a band bold, creative, and skilled enough to make material something along these lines, and to hear a group nailing it is great, especially these extraordinary and historic players. doing it in the shadows. and continuing. inspired.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the changing face of punk, July 23, 2007

By 

Stargrazer "the lost mixtape of my life" (deep in the heart of Michigan) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Way Things Work (Audio CD)

Spoken word is a hard sell. Improvised rock (that isn't noodly jam-band modal dippiness) is a hard sell. So imagine combining these two hard-sell genres into one. Nevermind that Mike Watt, George Hurley, Jack Brewer and Joe Baiza are West Coast punks of the highest order, the guys who wrote the book that most latter day ersatz punks crib their songs from.

There is a deep pedigree at work here, winding its way from Black Flag's "The Process of Weeding Out" through Elliott Sharp's Bootstrappers and Stephen Perkins' earliest Banyan collaborations -- the staunch belief that cathartic self-expression can find a nexus (and thus a solace) with visual art, the written word, film, and life itself.

Unknown Instructors is not beat poetry or coffee-shop moping, it is a near-violent, slow-boiling affirmation that art is life.

Those resigned to tread musical water and bash out 1-5-4s about how they are so alienated are warned to steer clear.