Len: Marc Costanzo, Sharon Costanzo, D Rock, DJ Moves.
Additional personnel includes: Biz Markie, Kurtis Blow (vocals); CeCe DeVille (electric & slide guitars); Matt Kelly, Andrew Thompson (guitar); Eve Butler (violin); David Stenski (viola); Suzi Katayama (cello); David Biederman (saxophone); Tom Biederman (trumpet); Dave Leitad, Brendan Canning (keyboards); Larry Ciancia, Wilson Laurencin, Mike Catano (drums); Mr. Dibbs, Buck 65 (scratches); Cryptic Souls Crew (background vocals).
Personnel: Godfrey Diamond (drums).
The debut by the Canadian four-piece LEN is a set of old-school tracks indebted to Sugar Hill Records and Afrika Bambaataa as well as more recent indie-rap agitators like the Beastie Boys. While the rapping is a bit stilted, the production is excellent and best heard on the first track, the monster hit "Steal My Sunshine," a bright slice of indie-pop with an old-school guitar loop and a suitably bumping bassline. For all of the great tracks here, it's difficult to escape the feeling that You Can't Stop the Bum Rush is a low-rent version of the Beastie Boys' 1998 album Hello Nasty -- Biz Markie makes a few appearances as he did with the Beasties, and master turntablist Mr. Dibbs takes the role of Mix Master Mike with major contributions to one (very short) track. Still, the album's few derivative qualities never really get in the way of an enjoyable listen. ~ John Bush
Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (9/2/99, p.110) - 3 stars (out of 5) - "...exuberantly silly, surprisingly inspired major-label debut...a delirious post-Beck hodgepodge..."
Q (1/00, p.118) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...at their best [when] creating weird generic hybrids....an intriguingly individual stew of influences."
CMJ (5/31/99, p.26) - "...So much is going on here that it's almost too much to process in one listen....The lion's share of music pulses with electronic beats and deep rhythms that signal that it's time to get down. The siblings dabble with everything from '70s funk and soul to modern rap..."
