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The Rice Thresher
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Mariel Tam Self pulls off its fourth album with a remarkable amount of coolness - remarkable because the Tennessee band recorded Gizmodgery (Spongebath Records) entirely with toy instruments. The group's sound on this album falls somewhere between a wackier Beck and a harder-edged They Might Be Giants, but the lyrics remain fairly inane, relegating this disc to the novelty record section. "Trunk Fulla Amps," like most of the tracks, boasts an interesting aural collage considering the instrumental limitations. But then frontman Matt Mahaffey continuously repeats the line, "I got a trunk fulla amps, motherfucker," which gets boring quickly. It sounds like Self made this song just because they could. The surprisingly funky "Pattycake," which boasts a Prince-style falsetto and a patty-cake rhyme bridge, talks about turning the clock back to 1978. The song isn't really about returning to the time "back when Michael Jackson was black." Instead, it makes fun of the people who were hardly out of diapers in the '70s who embrace the retro fad. The closing track, "Ilovetolove yourlovemylove," has a lame, repetitive chorus, and the catatonic style lacks any kind of appeal whatsoever. As a mockery of sappy romantic ballads from the '50s, it might elicit a laugh or two, though the smartest it gets is the pop culture reference in a plea, "Maybe we can safety-dance." Don't tell me you can take seriously a band that stretches out words to almost twice their normal syllabic length: "I am a li-tuh-uhl ex-puh-lo-zee-uhn," in the opening cut, "I Am a Little Explosion." It might put a smile on your face the first listen round, but you'd go crazy listening to this stuff nonstop. If you want a playful childlike pop album that transcends the novelty label, pass up Self and track down Of Montreal's kazoo-laden Beatles-esque record, The Gay Parade. - Mariel Tam
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