 The
Billion
"Aisle 5" CD
Self-Released
Genres: comedy rock, indie rock
e-mail
the band
Oct 14 - 20 2002 |
It's
hard to tell what The Billion is going for with Aisle 5.
While the initial impression is that this is primarily a comedy album,
some strong song compositions lean you more towards the idea of it
being more a pop record than anything else. While songs like "Respaminator"
wouldn't really stand up well without the humour in the lyrics (the
song is, oddly, all about a loner creating a friend out of meat),
others, like "Mr. Cool Guy" and "Carpets of
Michigan" take a more musical approach to things. Despite the
fact that the comedy isn't always all that funny, though, the songs
here are pretty enjoyable.
"Mr. Cool Guy," for example, carries a catchy, hummable
melody to it that I found myself singing in my head afterwards.
"Fred" is also very infectious, as is the calmer
"Carpets of Michigan."
The Billion's influences differ for each song, as they're
music is actually quite eclectic. "Rekcufrehtom Yeh," for
example, is a peppy pop song that carries traits from both Pavement
and They Might Be Giants. Happy and amusing, it has a nice,
carefree feeling to it. "Zombie Stomp," meanwhile, is a
Southern-tinged rock song that draws just as much from The
Supersuckers as it does from more pop-based bands.
Altogether, Aisle 9 is a fun, enjoyable romp through eight
short songs of comedy rock. While some parts fall a little flat, the
tracks are, for the most part, worth listening to.
82%
Matt Shimmer [Vitals:
27 min 50 sec; 8 tracks; distributed by the
band;
released 2002] |
