Did you know that the video game industry now makes more money than the movie industry? Neither did I; that is, until some commerical for a design college told me so. Though still somewhat surprising to me, I guess it's not unbelievable: personal video gaming has been around for years and has been instrumental in raising snot-nosed brats ever since the '80s. It's perhaps inevitable, then, that the cloying melodies and crunky rhythms of video games should influence a new generation of musicians. Equipped with extraordinary hand-eye coordination (due to excessive Metroid gaming), these hybird musicians are now playing the kind of music that's as much influenced by Nintendo as Melt-Banana.
Fat Day is a prime example. Oscillating between Tzomborgha and level 3-2 of Super Mario 3, Fat Day squeaks through 23 songs in 18 minutes, with big hairy balls intact. The instrumentation on Unf! Unf!, the band's fifth release, is sloppy and crude to say the least; but then again, the band didn't exactly rasie the bar with song titles like "Have You Got Cable?" and "If Humans Had No Poops." Though the lyrics appear totally random at first, undertones of anti-capitalism and a critique of American excess start to reveal themselves. Sure, this isn't a new topic to decry, but Fat Day perfectly captures the postmodern blastitude of a generation inundated with commodity this and commodity that, without the irony. Or perhaps I'm reading into the lyrics too much. In any case: though Unf! Unf! won't stay too long in your player, it will provide a chuckle and a chortle when you're just about sick of everything serious. I'm guessing Fat Day live is where it's at.
1. Azathoth
2. Boy Unit
3. Cosas Buenas Baratas
4. Pecos Canyon
5. Childers
6. Desharnais
7. Processional
8. Enterasys
9. Dub
10. Irk
11. If Humans Had No Poops
12. Adoration of the Crapass
13. Great Satan
14. Pragma
15. Black Fuckin Flag
16. Means
17. Chick Tract
18. Caloric
19. Derm So Strange
20. Have You Got Cable?
21. Beah
22. Fawn
23. Peever