POS

Never Better (Rhymesayers)

Minneapolis-born POS’ solo work has always split the difference between his punk outfit, Building Better Bombs, and the Doomtree hip-hop collective. On his third LP, Never Better, the smoke-voiced spitter’s still “Out of Category.” Punk only in an abstract sense, POS (né Stefon Alexander) proves himself the occasional virtuoso with hip-hop, at least lyrically with “Drumroll (We’re All Thirsty)” and “Get Smokes.” Never Better‘s not the complete, cohesive work that POS, who produced eight of the 15 tracks, should be putting together. It’s a tumbler, a series of good thoughts that get lost in development (“The Brave and the Snake”). Some work (“Purexed”), and some don’t (“Terrorish”), but Never Better would hold true as sentiment if POS just stuck to “The Basics.” (Thu., Habana Bar Backyard, 11:15pm; Fri., Buffalo Billiards, 11pm.)

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This article appears in March 20 • 2009.

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