Animal Farm may be named for the infamous Orwell novel, but these party boys are more interested in jamming out than getting too serious– not that politics don’t come up, it’s just that they’d rather be fun (or funny) than call the public to arms. Whether they’re rhyming about mean streaks or the state of the nation, their new record, The Unknown, serves up sweet hip-shakers with a sense of humor, without the repetitious beats characteristic of novice emcees…but it does have a cameo from none other than the Teacha himself (that’s KRS-One, for those who are as of yet unenlightened.) And even though their Tuesday night CD release at Nectar July 1st was less than half-full (and mostly of fellow hip hop musicians at that), they still pulled out an energetic, incredibly entertaining live show. Hopefully they’ll have more luck at the Comet Tavern on Thursday, even though it’s so out of character for the Comet to have rappers perform that they introduce the show listing on their Myspace page with, “A Night of Hip Hop.” Unfortunately, Hanif Wondir, one of Animal Farms four emcees and the one with the soulful pipes, isn’t gonna be there (he recently moved to San Francisco and only does one show a month with the band). But that’s not to say the three remaining members of the quartet won’t hold it down just fine by themselves, along with DJ Wicked, who might just treat the crowd to a mindblowing scratch session.
Thu., July 17, 9 p.m., 2008
