Review by Josh Felty
Rating: **
The name says it all really: Surrealist Techno Punk Rock. Perhaps the word surrealist should be replaced with a more fitting moniker.
Bizarre.
There's the distinct techno sound, at times more MIDI-sounding than anything. If you've no idea what MIDI is, think of the earliest type of music played on that little invention called the internet. You probably get where I'm going with this review.
Honestly, the techno isn't all that bad. One who has partook of plenty of techno in its various incarnations can immediately tell the difference between good techno and bad techno. When the bad comes along, it kinda slaps you in the face like a pair of saggy funbags. It's sort of a novelty at first, but after you've gleaned the gist of every not-so-subtle bell and whistle, the fun is lost.
The strange thing about this album is it's actually sort of clever and deranged all in the same instance. Take for example the song "Kill All the White Man", with an unmistakably effeminate male vocal cooing the song title and lines such as "He rape all my people as he rape my country/everything I love and cherish he try to take away"; on top of that, the synth sounds like (and probably is) a Casio keyboard strapped to a Wal-Mart guitar. Weird vocal effects abound; some sound as though they're were recorded by the Smurfs or some weird Keebler elf manchild.
With track names like "Lone Wolf McVeigh" (a weird amalgam of punk rock and Casio tinkering), "Heroin Heights Hotel" (with a sexual PSA-sounding track accompanied by a strange, stoned chipmunk vocal), and "Pictures of Scrilla" (an apparent Who cover, with more Smurf singing) this release doesn't disappoint in the "What the hell are we listening to again?" department.
This is the sort of thing you put on at a Halloween party once everybody's cleared out and only the die-hard party people are left. And that's not completely a slam, mind you. "Blagojevich 666" and "Punk Rock Hooker" are actually quite strong, catchy, and reminiscent of some of the experimental techno-pop of the late 80's/early 90's. And what's more, the release has that underground, cassette-tape trading feel of punk from that era also.
I have to give any musician credit for doing "their thing". I've managed to record some fairly strange stuff on my computer a time or two. It happens, especially if you've had a bit too much cough syrup or some similar sort of tonic. Without originality, art is destined for the dumps...and sometimes you find that dumping convention and conformity can be a liberating musical experience.