The Peppermints
Jesüs Chryst
(Paw Tracks)
When the Animal Collective first started up the Paw Tracks label, I thought it would be a great way for them to not only release music that was related to their group, but also a way for me to hopefully get a little more insight on what possibly influenced them in making their great and creative music. Panda Bears Young Prayer was a nice little release from a member of the group, and although I didn't care as much for either release from Ariel Pink, I found moments of each of them charming.
Now comes Jesüs Chryst from The Peppermints and I am honestly left wondering whether it's some sort of an inside joke. On the release, the group (which is a foursome that includes members with names like M-Ron Hubbard and Ms. Hot Chocolate) blasts through eighteen tracks in under thirty minutes and there isn't a single track on the release that sounds much more developed than the group of high school kids down the the street that picked up instruments about two months ago and have their minds set on making thrash music.
With song titles like "Rabid Frogs," "Sexy Total Fuck," and "Onion Salad," I was actually expecting some humor (or at the very least some super offensive stuff ala Anal Cunt), but other than perhaps one or two places, the group didn't even manage to make me crack a smile (whereas I still can find a place in my heard sometimes for smartasses like Screaching Weasel). Of course, it would probably help if the vocals weren't so buried in fuzz and distortion that I could actually understand them once in awhile.
So, basically the album sounds like the group got together, got blasted, and then recorded almost twenty tracks of one-take madness (on a boombox microphone) that are heavy on repetition and distortion and lack a whole lot in terms of melody and just about anything else. One of the only times that the group breaks from the formula is on "Santorum," and although it's not quite as funny as it could be, the chant-like track actually shows off a little bit in terms of melody and harmony and ends with an obvious reference to the Dan Savage-penned definition rather than the Senator. Sloppy, sloppy stuff.
Rating: 1
