My Tribe

MKS Records

Woo hoo! Kegger at my house! What's the occasion? Um...how about the death of women in rock who don't rock? I know, I know. That crazy Lilith Fair festival is still whining it's way around the country (if anyone knows what Missy Elliott was thinking, let me know), and Jewel is trying to get everyone to read her book of...shudder...poems, but at least I found a glimmer of hope that the ubiquitous chic, her piano, and her angst is on it's way out.

That glimmer is the eponymous EP by singer/songwriter/funk/dance band, My Tribe. You can just go ahead and think Luscious Jackson with talent if that makes you happy, just don't forget the talent part. The singer/songwriter is Michele Senitzer who, along with her own '80s guitar god/ '70s funk master inspired electric guitar, and brilliant rhythm section, bass player Karen Avery and drummer Stella Hayes, has combined intelligent lyrics with a beat you can dance to.

Senitzer has a knack for writing lyrics that are obviously personal, but somehow universal, like when on Amends she draws you in with, "all along it seems i've been wrong/ i thought i knew the deal/ i knew nothing at all." But she really shows off her no-bullshit style, and genius for writing lyrics that fit what she's trying to say, as well as My Tribe's funk and dance grooviness on songs like Can You See Me, and especially The Score with simply brilliant lines like, "When you come around you turn up/ my frown i aint joking you."

Actually, The Score is the best track on this four-song EP. Yeah, it's got some funk guitar that could make the soundtrack to the next Shaft movie. It's got the sexy, sax stylings of Nadine Whitfield, that made me wish she had played on all of the tracks. But what really sets this song apart is when they bring out the funk, and break it down, "ooh chaka ah...ooh ooh chaka ah!"

I'm going to make a prediction, if My Tribe keeps going in this bring-out-the-funk direction, their next CD could have these funk and dance divas kicking Jewel's whiny ass all over the pop charts. Well, at least I have hope. Ooh ooh chaka ah!

Melinda Whitehouse

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