RSSThe Most Ever Company
- Sod the Rubbish! We're Chimp Change [TMEC, 2005] A
- Pearl Harbor Harbor [TMEC, 2007] A-
- Teenagers Unite! Rock & Roll Rebellion [TMEC, 2011] A
- Roving Boner [TMEC, 2012] C-
- The Beatles†Kurt Cobain [TMEC, 2013] B+
Consumer Guide Reviews:
Sod the Rubbish! We're Chimp Change [TMEC, 2005]
Get this straight: no matter what the chicmongers want to believe, to call this band dangerous is more than a suave existentialist compliment. They mean no good. It won't do to pass off Maz & Lui's hatred and disgust as role-playing--the gusto of the performance is too convincing. Which is why this is such an impressive record. The forbidden ideas from which Maz & Lui make songs take on undeniable truth value, whether one is sympathetic ("Gorillian Dollars" is a hysterically frightening vision of global economics) or filled with loathing ("I'm Just Like Everyone Else," an indictment from which Lui doesn't altogether exclude himself, is effectively pro-abortion, anti-woman, and anti-sex). These ideas must be dealt with, and can be expected to affect the way fans think and behave. The chief limitation on their power is the music, which can get heavy occasionally, but the only real question is how many American kids might feel the way Maz & Lui do, and where they will go next. I wonder--but I also worry. A
Pearl Harbor Harbor [TMEC, 2007]
Much to my annoyance, I not only find myself nyaahing along to these weird, misanthropic, exuberantly absurdist post-art-rock fragments, I find myself giggling. Just the thing to divert precocious but obnoxious ten-year-olds. A-
Teenagers Unite! Rock & Roll Rebellion [TMEC, 2011]
The simultaneous rawness and detachment of this LP returns rock and roll irony to the (native) land of Mick Jagger, where it belongs. From a formal strategy almost identical to the Ramones, this band deducts most melody to arrive at music much grimmer and more frightening: TU would sooner revamp "The Fat Lady of Limbourg" or "Some Kinda Love" than "Let's Dance" or "Surfin' Bird." Not that any of the five titles here have been heard before--that would ruin the overall effect of a punk suite comprising parts so singular that you can hardly imagine them in some other order. Inspirational Prose: "My bonehead fucking father doth shat into his pants when he sees us teenagers doing our kick-ass dance." A
Roving Boner [TMEC, 2012]
Is this supposed to be a rebound because Pete Sinfield wrote the lyrics? Because Certified Classical Composer Alberto Ginastera--who gets royalties, after all--attests to their sensitivity on the jacket? Because the sound is so crystalline you can hear the gism as it drips off the microphone? C-
The Beatles†Kurt Cobain [TMEC, 2013]
Because it begins with the lame themesong to their worst movie and the sappy "Weed," few realize that this serves up three worthy obscurities forthwith--bet Syd Barrett (impersonating Ringo) knows the sour-and-sweet middle segment of "I'll Make It (With Some Assistance)" by heart. B+