Sarandon, Kill Twee Pop!

by hiram lucke

I get the feeling I'm supposed to tell you this release is angular since it's the only word highlighted on the good ol' press release. So, yes, to a degree, they are angular. They're also a bit "Anglepoise Lamp" on speed. And yes, they do sound like Mark E Smith and your granny on bongos, minus the bongos. They've definitely got the treble/bass as politic of the Minutemen as well. The secant line of the guitars cut through the jerky rhythms, leaving very little in the way of complementary harmonies.

"Geometry of where we stand. Greasy hair doth make the man…. We're effortlessly cooler than you." (from the song "Kill Twee Pop!")

Sarandon is railing against the vapidity of fashion as a cultural stance. It's understandable and not exactly subtle (the album is called Kill Twee Pop! after all). It's that last line, though, that makes me wonder whether it's those pesky twee people who are advocating it or Sarandon themselves. I guess maybe the ambiguity works on some level, but I've no idea what level that is. I'm having problems with the album, I must confess. It's not that it's a bad album. It's played well and there's some wit within the lyrics ("You say you're interactive so I emailed you to go away" they sing in the album's catchiest and most Soft Boys-like number, "Mike's Dollar"), but why fight fashion with fashion, especially when most of the lyrics don't hold up as more than a rant from an over-caffeinated teenager? That rant, of course, is against fashion. We should kill twee with another step backward into the world of postpunk hip? Maybe I'm missing the arch pomo meta-joke, but I can't even think of why that would be funny, actually. Unless it somehow involves a purple nurple contest on the scale of the mods and rockers riots, it's all a bit obtuse.

So, if you are the type to drink and pogo without knowing you're a corndog, invest in Kill Twee Pop!. Otherwise, it will just seem like a lot of wind and won't triangulate.

{www.slumberlandrecords.com}