best musical religious-satire of 2008… so far

best musical religious-satire of 2008… so far

my new favourite band


Plunder, Beg and Curse
Colour Revolt
Fat Possum Records

Plunder, Beg and Curse is fantastic. Based out of Mississippi, the quintet’s new album rocks out softly and sadly with a satirical, seven deadly sins theme, complete with messy, blemished illustrations on the jacket cover. 

The opening track sounds eerily like early Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but then gets way more hypnotic. Singer Jimmy Cajoleas croons “I’m still swinging from the liquor tree” imitating God’s image, the fall of man, and the garden of Eden which is later described as “a hell of a place.” 

The album peaks at “Ageless Everytime,” a pained song about rejection and unrequited love, not to mention the absurdity of carnal, animal attraction. Utlimately depressing, this track is like an ugly version ofKevin Drew’s prettyboy music, but the gritty aesthetic is completely satisfying on a different level. 

Altogether abysmal and dreary, Plunder Beg and Curse is a cycle of sin and redemption that we can’t help but fall into over and over again. The album as a whole seems to feel like 2005 new music sampler, caught somewhere between alternative rock and indie-pop, and with surprisingly insightful lyrical sensitivity. Colour Revolt sounds much like Franz Ferdinand imitating Death Cab, but with a holier-than thou, pretentious, never-ending quality that emphasizes the fall from grace and man’s descent into a world of pain.

cool disco, but lyrical no-go

cool disco, but lyrical no-go


mood swings
small sins
boompa records

The Small Sins recently released their second album, Mood Swings as a follow-up from their debut eponymous work from 2006. Based out of Toronto, the quintet rocks out with groovy, contemplative electro-typical songs not unlike a marriage between Death Cab and Grandaddy. In fact, several tracks such as “I Need a Friend” and “On the Run” sound something fresh off a Postally-Serviced musical venture into popular synth mash-ups. This whole album seems to capture that trend, blending together the unlikely wishy-washy complaints of unrequited love and catchy, upbeat synth-pop. In fact, Mood Swings seems to unravel the cool veneer of the aloof, dance-mystique, with lyrics such as “I’m thirsty like a diabetic,” showing that altogether draining feeling of ineptitude and personal emotional incompetence. At the same time though, the lyrical component is certainly lacking in Mood Swings – peaking at “On a Mission,” the tunes deliver that plurality of emotions in being feeling utterly rejected, but the lyrics don’t back it up at with the same integrity. On the whole, this album moves in one direction only – a euphonic but mindless expression of the broken hearted. But maybe that’s the point; love reduces the rejected into a droning, monotonous verbal plane. Indeed, just like how frontman Thomas D’arcy lethargically relates, “we’re all tired all the time.”