SPIKE MAGAZINE

(Interscope Records)

Touching down in parental-warning-sticker grillz-land, LA undergrounders Jurassic 5 up their major label ante (or pull a weaseling sell-out, take your pick) with a stop-the-presses drop-in from Dave Matthews, bent on revealing his stereophonic 70s side on “Work It Out,” a hypnotic bit of chill crossover that successfully strives to go beyond its own built-in “Woah, Dave Matthews jamming with Cypress Hill or somebody!” commercial. For cred’s sake, that tune’s been banished to the #7 track, but by then most fans will be steeled for just about any awkward contingency after facing such scattershot genre-hollas as the glossy “Back 4 U” (replete with an air-conditioned 80s-style piano-and-shaker loop) and a visit from reggae sisters Brick & Lace on Scott Storch’s “Brown Girl” that’s outwardly indicative of nothing more than a quixotic urge to insert random patronizing props to girl crews. The main goal – Laserjetted for posterity onto their press release if it’s not obvious enough – is radio success, which may not be achieved by refrying Skee-Lo’s old-school approach (”Radio”) or any of the above, but there are some strong possibilities, perhaps the jiggly “Baby Please” or the house-stomping “Turn It Out.”

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