My Shit Is Perfect

Album review

Bob Log III frequently insists "My shit is perfect" on his fourth studio set, hence the title, and if his music still sounds like a stripped-down and messed-up variation on country blues filtered through a 21st century junk culture mindset, that's just a reflection of Log's vision of an ideal world comprised of noise, rhythm, cleavage, and alcohol. My Shit Is Perfect lacks the frantic drive of Trike, and some of the lyrics can almost be understood -- the operative word is "almost" -- but most of the time this is Bob Log III doing his thing as he has in the past, laying down some slide guitar and frantic string flailing, throwing some bass drum and rhythm box into the mix, and celebrating the world as he sees it through a cheap microphone that makes his words sound like a transistor radio broadcast heard from halfway down the alley. The curious rhythmic edits and speed manipulations on "Manipulate Your Figments" and "Bump Pow! Bump Bump Bump Pow! Bump Pow! Bump Bump Bump Baby! Bump Pow! Bump Bump Bump Pow! Bump Pow! Bump Bump Bump" suggest Log has been looking for ways to twist hip-hop around his creative framework, and given his fondness for a good boast, it makes sense -- this album may not sound anything like Lil Jon, but crunk seems to be as good a description of Log's method and madness as any phrase a musicologist has coined. Bob Log III has taken his listeners on crazier trips than My Shit Is Perfect, but he's still going down a road that only he can navigate, and you sure won't wander into a juke joint like this one every day, so give this a try. Just don't wear shoes you still care about.
© Mark Deming /TiVo