From the moment the recognizable riffs of Tom Morello come together with Boots Riley’s revolutionary rhymes on album opener Fight! Smash! Win! it is clear that the duo’s project has created something very special indeed.

Allying militant leftist advocacy with radio-friendly hooks, Street Sweeper Social Club has a sound that appeals to the clenched fist but also to the party groove. Imagine an easier-on-the-ear Rage Against The Machine with a more laidback, funk-inclined vocalist, and you wouldn’t be too far away.

Morello is on flying form here, a marked improvement from his solo project, The Nightwatchman. Leaving the lyrical output to his cohort, he still displays the uncanny knack of serving up anthemic guitar licks that are at once ferociously inspired yet absolutely familiar.

Riley, meanwhile, pulls no punches in the message being conveyed, exemplified on The Oath; “I pledge, that there is no surrender / Instead, I’ll expose their agenda / Fight, and make the vampires bleed / Recite, this ex-losers’ creed”.

Boots Riley shows considerable versatility throughout the record, at various points calling to mind the vocal styles of rappers such as Cadence Weapon, André 3000, Zearle, Big Boi, Chuck D… the list is endless.

Nonetheless he retains his own idiosyncratic emcee persona, wearing his socialist credentials as a badge of honour – “My skin is black, my star is red” – and exhorting the listener to join him; “Grab onto that beaten ground, try your best to stay alive / We can’t run, we can’t hide; might as well just stay and fight!”

Those quotes both come from Promenade, the penultimate song of the record, and it is probably the perfect representation of the album; a juxtaposition of various ingredients that shouldn’t work but somehow mix together to form a startlingly addictive track.

A simple, squaredance-style rhythm, complete with “dosey-do” reference from Riley, building up into a feet-stomping chorus, letting loose a trademark shredding Morello solo, and finally reaching crescendo at its climax. Frankly, even that description doesn’t do it justice; all that can be said is that if it is not released as a single I will eat my own face out of sheer disbelief.

There simply aren’t any weaknesses to Street Sweeper Social Club. The lyrical message never becomes as preachy as it did on some rare occasions with Rage, the guitar-work never becomes self-indulgent, the songs are neither over-produced nor in need of fine-tuning, and the overall combination of protest rock and pop (along with various other genres) never comes across as contradictory or hypocritical. In short, this is an astutely measured release, as balanced in execution as it was promising when first announced.

The revolution will not be televised, but if it were to be then this would be an apt soundtrack.

- Sebastian Clare

CHECK OUT THE FIRST SINGLE FROM STREET SWEEPER SOCIAL CLUB BELOW: