Head Automatica is one of those bands that play with The Revolution and The Time in the Prince movie Purple Rain. Actually this is a side project of Daryl Palumbo, lead vocalizer in Glassjaw, and Dan "The Automator" Nakamura. You know Nakamura from Handsome Boy Modeling School, Doctor Octagon, and Deltron 3030. Honestly I hope this is not the wave of the future. Remember the last time you were in a hard core band and decided you were going to start a dance club band...yeah me neither. The only real way that it would work is if they brought back the head spin and the rope pull mime maneuver, the ultimate crossover dance move. Palumbo said that he wanted to do something different and just party and have fun getting away from the brick in the head brutality of Glassjaw. It looks like he succeeded with the partying part; Decadence is a cocaine induced rampage at Studio 54.

In a way I feel guilty though and have to give Palumbo some credit. The opening track, "The Speed of a Yellow Bullet," is killer and makes it impossible not to stomp your foot and clap your hands. It's almost as bad as a John Cougar Mellencamp song. (He should never be let off the hook for that "Cougar" baloney) The second song is good too but the DJ Shadow beat combined with a Lenny Kravitz guitar makes me nervous. Decadence seems to start out with rock songs and slowly spirals into electronica, reminiscent of the way Jamiroquai used to make me shake to waltz back in '98. Palumbo also expresses his shitty rapping technique with "Head Automatica Sound System." Glass-Ja'Rule he's not! Still the songs burrow deep into your brain like the technodrone from Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles cartoon I used to watch as a kid. A fitting example since they are kinda techno songs.

"Solid Gold Telephone" reminds me of the time when I tried out to be a go-go dancer in the local fantasy getaway hot spot of Mesquite, Nevada at the really "extreme" Club Extreme. It was a painful experience and a pivotal moment in life - realizing I wasn't cut out for the dog-eat-dog world of professional dancing. The judges just laughed at my routine and said that I danced like a rollerblader. "You dance like a god damn fruitbooter" scoffed the large cowboy hat wearing judge. Happily it didn't stop me from perusing my dream, nosiree - I will survive. I got together with Tom Arraya from Slayer, Glenn Danzig, and Tone Loc to start the greatest dance club group ever: The Gnarza Faction. Look for our new album called, Don't Cross the Streams in stores as you read this.