*** The Lynnfield Pioneers

FREE POPCORN

(Matador)

Several years too late for it to make any difference, art-trash downtowniks give up bleating no-wave indifference and turn out what might have resulted if the Jon Spencer of "Bellbottoms," the Beastie Boys of Ill Com-munication, and Mellow Gold-period Beck had come together to make the party album of the summer of '94. Perhaps you remember: the overly direct "Funky Drummer" quotes, the unfunky-pasty-white-guys-rapping-squeakily-and-obliquely (and driving the girls giggly over geek-homeboy chic), the we're-the-hip-hop-version-of-the-Sonics loaf-eye romanticism, the occasional punky dance number. The exception's at the beginning with "Astral Plane," the best mod-garage rump roast the Make-Up haven't yet written. "Time To Get Dumb" isn't quite the best song here, though it's a fine statement of purpose ("It's time to get stupid/Found an old record and I looped it"), and the band almost live up to it now and again. Given the Pioneers' unlistenable early efforts, one's first reaction to this kind of thing tends to be over-laudatory -- the holy-shit-those-retards-made-a-real-album! syndrome. But the last crucial barbecue I was at got its biggest kicks in the ass from GNR's Appetite -- everyone wistfully recalling Axl's glory days in the dulcet tones usually reserved for vintage R.E.M. or Slayer or something. So here's a clue: good album, wrong summer.

-- Carly Carioli