The Beatnigs is the only album by the San Francisco band the Beatnigs, released in 1988. It combined punk, industrial and hip hop influences.
Michael Franti wrote all of the lyrics to the songs; he also played bass. The album was produced by the Beatnigs. An enclosure explaining the origins of the band's name was included with the album.
The Television EP is the Beatnigs' 4-song follow-up, also released in 1988. The opening track is remixed by English dub musicians Adrian Sherwood, Gary Clail, and Mark Stewart. There's a special thanks to "Troy" on the rear cover, indicating that Louis "Troy" Dixon (AKA the Crack Emcee) had joined the band.
Spin wrote that the album mixed "the Last Poetsâ severe rhetoric with the horrific industrial grinding of Einstürzende Neubauten." Trouser Press said that "this striking San Francisco quintet explodes in a tight and danceable riot of industrial percussion, vocals and tape manipulations." The New York Times called the album "a powerful conglomeration of taped soundsâÂÂspeeches by Malcolm X, for instanceâÂÂindustrial noise made with saws, sirens and oil drums, and a conventional rhythm section."
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide called it "the most interesting and innovative album any of Franti's three groups has made, loaded with sonic twists and turns." The Spin Alternative Record Guide deemed it "an angrier warm-up to De La Soul a year later: choppy beats mingled with inflammatory news items, goofy how-to spiels, exhortations from Malcolm X and others, and twisted loops of electro-industrial din."
All songs written by the Beatnigs.
Television EP