JOHN SINCLAIR

Beatnik Youth 7/10 Veteran poet teams up with producer Youth, uniting free jazz, rock’n’roll and ambient

Sounding a lot like his old friend Iggy Pop, Detroit’s iconic “White Panther” introduces himself as “a beatnik, dope fiend, poet, provocateur, race traitor and renegade”, reciting his beat poetry in a sub-baritone growl that lurches from the bored to the psychotic. he waxes lyrical about Monk, Kerouac and Ginsberg (on the ambient “Brilliant Corners”), lusts after black women (on the swinging “Red Dress”), issues a libertarian’s charter (on the MC5-ish “ain’t Nobody’s Business”) and – on “War On Drugs” – teams up with the late howard Marks to suggest that dopeheads and dealers start an aggressive counter-offensive. Best of luck with that one.