Fittingly, Cardiac Party is a band with some serious heart, a band you can’t help but smile at, even with lyrics that are as silly as the album’s title is stupid. Spoiler ahead: R Cacti Yard, PA is an anagram for their band name. Ouch. The cover art reminds me more of a Salad Fingers background than a rock band, but either way, I can’t help but rock out with at least a few of these joyous and noisy tracks.
“Busy Bodies” opens and closes with a guitar riff that effects the inquisitive bustling tone that I’ve only previously come across in three other places: Vampire Weekend’s “Oxford Comma,” Maxis’ Simcity games, and Nickelodeon’s Doug. This song takes a potentially ridiculous chorus, “This is a song/ And if I’m wrong/ Then I am wrong, But it’s still a song,” and casts it in a Head of Femur “let’s pop out with our cocks out” light. I’ve already added it to Papa B’s dance party mix.
It’s no coincidence that the goofy aesthetic on R Cacti Yard, PA is best used sparingly, so while the bubble from “Busy Bodies” resurfaces happily a few tracks later in “Doorbell” (“Knock, knock, knock/ Doorbell!”), this gets old fairly quickly. From there, it’s a seamless transition into “Noodle’s Root” and ironically a transition into the album’s weaker half, as the same affected vocals and drum breaks begin to wear thin. “Cactus Needles On My Tongue” and “Urban Desert Make Up Dress Down” are alright, but predictably predictable, making the tracks wear thin after repeated plays.
Cardiac Party still have some maturing to do. But there are certainly gems among this mixed bag, and for that, there’s no doubt that these Tempe boys will have a luminous future ahead of them.
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