During the six years between
Pick a Bigger Weapon and
Sorry to Bother You,
the Coup survived a disastrous bus crash. Leader
Boots Riley aligned with
Tom Morello as
Street Sweeper Social Club, and he also toured with
Galactic. More significantly,
Riley became a driving force in the Occupy Oakland movement -- something that could have fueled an album's worth of ideas. Instead,
Sorry to Bother You draws inspiration from
Riley's past as a telemarketer. It's presented as a soundtrack to "a dark comedy with magical realism." There are enough guest stars joining
Riley, Pam the Funkstress, Silk-E, studio comrade
Damion Gallegos, and the band's instrumentalists to give it the feel of a funk-rap-rock opera. Lyrically, however, it's a typical
Coup album in the best possible way.
Riley's incisive, anti-capitalist rhymes and animated vocals are as energizing as ever, alternately intoxicating and sobering without wavering in force. Without being told, a longtime
Coup fan wouldn't be able to discern the words' function as soundtrack material.
Riley maintains hot-blooded realism and dips into slightly out-of-character fantasticism only for the oddball chamber agitprop of "We've Got a Lot to Teach You, Cassius Green." A change of approach is instantly detectable in the music, which is often closer to assaultive and muscular new wave than the laid-back, bottom-heavy synth funk that runs through
Pick a Bigger Weapon. According to
Riley, that's just the way it played out. It might take some time for older fans to adjust -- its punk energy aims for the calves more frequently than the neck -- but
Sorry to Bother You contains some of
the Coup's most vehement and focused output. ~ Andy Kellman