From what I'd heard, my first impression of Sweating Honey was that of Jack Kerouac or Allen Ginsberg; a modern twist of beat-nick love interacting with its listeners. It was sampling their new album, however, that I came to the conclusion that they were much more than a single-genre persona.

When I first loaded "Infinity's Doorstop" up on the disc-twister, I was relieved to hear the many tools of music (guitars, trumpets, drums, saxophones…) as well as the use of more unique instruments such as propane tanks and refrigerator racks working together to express a variety of flavors: swing, blues, jazz, skaw, and world at the least.

For the most part, the whole album is a masterpiece of the genre melting pot. In my high school years, I would have called it rock, a word that's conveniently been used to simplify the explosion of new genres throughout the 20th Century. After giving "Infinity's Doorstop" a listen, however, I'm at last able to articulate what rock is. As a noun, it's ambiguous at best; but as a verb, the word rock serves its purpose. That is to say, rock isn't a genre; it's something you do to a genre.

I'm not a big fan of the spoken word, but the musical tracks on the album are expansive and versatile. For the most part, the individual voices of the band click to form an elegant amalgamate. However, I was a taken back a bit by the minute surrounding the five-minute mark of the first track ("Some Kind of Love Song"), where the lead guitar seems to contradict the main theme of the song set by the trumpets.

The second track, "Sweating Honey" has the sexual intensity of Jeff Buckley or Marvin Gaye, complete with the sleazy sound of the wah-wah pedal and the explosive vocals of Luke Beckel.

The existence of global influence is more apparent in "Bris of a Nation", the product of a healthy mix of Italian and Jamaican music. Sticking closer to the roots of American music is "Mr. Sunday Morning" (a blues take) and "Thursday," somewhat reminiscent of the swing style of Cherry Popping Daddies, but much more classy and adaptable to the direction of modern music.

The final track, "Hide and Seek" has the feel of a classic reggae tune, complete with lyrics targeted at the political drive of greed.

I'd never been a fan of brass instruments until bands like Sublime came along, and now once again I must admit to being thoroughly impressed by the bright timbre of air molecules being violated by excited metals.

Sweating Honey is a continuously evolving band. It's hard to say whether they are infants in search of a single tangible style, or journeymen who hope to never settle down on one branch of the musical tree. Whichever the case, they are definitely headed in the direction of something bigger as they accumulate a fan base and compile the musical technique and stage presence necessary to become master performers.

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