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The hunt for Tim Armstrong

One track at a time

By WILL SPITZ | April 30, 2007

Rancid

Last fall, Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong posted a letter on the Epitaph Records Web site announcing his plan to give away his solo debut, A Poet’s Life, for free on the Internet, “one track at a time,” as a way of “saying thanks to everyone, for all the support over the years.” Epitaph posted MP3s of the album’s opening two tracks with Armstrong’s letter, and then we sorta forgot about the whole thing till we got an e-mail from the label’s publicity department on April 20: “Each Tuesday fans are encouraged to hunt down new songs and videos that will be made available for download on various blogs, sites, and social networks. Additionally the album will also be available for sale on May 22 with a bonus DVD containing 10 new videos.” Here’s what we’ve dug up so far.

Tim Armstrong, “Wake Up” (mp3)
Over slow, simple, vintage-sounding reggae backing — provided by LA “dirty reggae” five-piece the Aggrolites, who serve as Armstrong’s backing band for the entirety of A Poet’s Life — Armstrong sings in his trademark raspy slur: “Why do you spend your time with these guys who don’t love you the way that I do?”

Tim Armstrong, “Hold On” (mp3)
Another pleasant but forgettable old-schooly reggae track. Not much to say about this except that it’s a hell of a lot more enjoyable than the forced back-to-our-roots pap of the last two Rancid albums.

Tim Armstrong, “Inner City Violence”
Take either of the above two tunes, make the chord progressions minor, throw in some record scratching and lyrics about violence on the “streets of Mogadishu, Bagdad, back to Beirut,” and you’ve got this song.

Tim Armstrong, “Take This City” (video)
More ska than reggae, this one is also a bit more up-tempo than the others, though the instrumentation — organ and guitar accenting the off-beats, a little lead guitar here and there, melodic bass, some background horns — is virtually identical, and Armstrong’s melodies are similarly enjoyable but unremarkable. The video, a low-budget job shot in grainy monochrome, shows Armstrong kicking around Brighton, England — as innocuous as the music.

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