MX-80's press packet enticed me. It spoke of a band that was helmed by a maniacal metal-by-way-of-avant-garde-jazz guitarist named Bruce Anderson, who had allegedly inspired Thurston Moore. The band's seemingly illustrious career even yielded an extensive collection with liner notes by reputed music writer/notorious record collector Byron Coley. One listen to the album included with the press packet made me never want to delve into their back catalog.
The album, We're an American Band, is disastrous. It is not only pointless, but it might squelch the band's ability to find a younger audience altogether. It begins with "No Brainer," a cheesy approximation of the sound theater of Zappa's Lumpy Gravy. The song is so bad that it honestly made me yearn for the giddy shit-for-brains Zappaisms found on Phish's Lawn Boy. Next up is the title track, a pisstake on Grandfunk Railroad's ode to mouth-fucking 13-year-olds. The vocals on the chorus are slowed down to the point of being deep-throated belches and the verses are spoken in a dorky post-ironic tone.
Much of the rest of the album is comprised of jokes that weren't even funny during the fact ("Don't Hate the French"), attempts to recreate Butthole Surfers' "Pepper" ("Cry Uncle"), and spoken odes to the aesthetics of They Might Be Giants and King Missle ("You Turned My Head Around," "Christmas with the Devil," "Mr. Watson," et al.). Anderson's guitar on the album is nothing to write home about. He shows talent but not without sounding like Steve Vai warming up.
1. No Brainer
2. We're an American Band
3. Mr. Watson
4. Hell
5. Susan
6. Don't Hate the French
7. You Turned My Head Around
8. Give It Up
9. Cry Uncle
10. So Clear
11. Christmas with the Devil
12. Lights Out
13. (I'm) Flying
More about: MX-80
