(Top
pick)
Malachai should stick to the rock music, because they're pretty
good at it. They're at their best on opener "O' Amy";
frontguy Mike
Fossum's story about getting beaten up by the meanest girl in
town is told with happy fuzz-pop guitars. It's head bobbing fun,
a cheery sing-along for a cross-country trip.
Fossum, Ben Phelan, Ed Brown, Otto Helmuth and the Steve split
time between bass, guitar, keys, vocals and the Roland MC-505
beatbox. Robby Cosenza plays the drums. They should probably pawn
the beatbox, because These Sounds is bogged down by beat-based
electro tracks that don't really work. They clog the album's flow.
Steve pulls out some nice guitar melodies on "Shiloh",
but they're overshadowed by the Roland. The song comes off as
a post Shrink Notwist heist.
When they're on, however, Malachai's guitar driven punkish funk
recalls Pavement and the rowdier side of Fugazi's blooze -- but
they change it up. "Hailure" (defined by Malachai as
a bad Halo player) riffs like the Misfits. "Love a Man"
opens with Fossum white-boy rapping "I got mad flow, like
old girlfriend's period." It almost sounds like a Beck B-side,
but with Fossum trading Beck's absurdity for his own cryptic references
to computers and video games.
Most of these references are defined in a 38-word glossary that's
provided with the album. You'll need this, a prayer and a bit
of patience to decode Fossum's inside humor. Proof: "Love
A Man" is "similar to give me a break, or stop breaking
my balls". Okay, but "gimcracks" is "Frilly,
slovenly pussy. Pussy of no consequence. Weekend pussy."
This serves as a warning to women: Fossum's lyrics will offend
you.
Finally, "spirit world" is defined as "The place
where one exists, when drunk, pilled out or h-o, all of the time.
There is no in- between." You'd have to assume, then, that
these are drug-soaked songs. That's fine, but it seems that Fossum,
if he really wants to be understood, is asking too much from the
listener
Shawn McCormack
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