We’re Not Out Of Ammo Yet

My new Hit Refresh column is up on the ASAP site. This week: Matthew Friedberger, Ratatat, and a selection from Rio Baile Funk: More Favela Booty Beats. Also, my review of Talladega Nights is up on The Movie Binge, though that site seems to be down as of this writing.

Be Your Own Pet “October, First Account” – For better or worse, most of Be Your Own Pet’s first proper album sounds like the work of excited teenagers, which is exactly what they are. Fair enough. A lot of the more wild tracks are fun and above average, but they really shine on this raggedy alt-rock/punk semi-ballad, which hints at the fantastic band that Be Your Own Pet has the potential to become. Better yet, it presents almost all of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs best moves without any of that band’s extremely obnoxious tics, basically making Karen O & Co. look like the Chump Chump Chumps without even trying that hard. Let’s just hope and pray that BYOP singer Jemina Pearl doesn’t end up like Karen O, who came off like a severely retarded PJ Harvey in a hideous superhero costume on Conan the other night, and has basically made me dread seeing her band on tomorrow night’s bill with Sonic Youth. (Click here to buy it very cheap from Insound.)

The Loud Family “Total Mass Destruction” – It’s been nearly seven years since Scott Miller recorded a new album of songs, and so What If It Works? arrives with a odd mixture of anticipation and diminished expectations, given that he’s been out of practice for ages and there were only two very good songs on 2000’s Attractive Nuisance. Sadly, I’m probably one of 400 people in the world that actually cares about Miller, which is unfortunate, since he’s written an impressive number of clever, catchy postmodern rock songs in the 80s with Game Theory and with The Loud Family in the 90s. He’s been in semi-retirement since the beginning of this decade at least in part due to the increasing indifference of the indie marketplace and a desire to focus on his dayjob and family. Easily the least cohesive album in the Loud Family discography, What If It Works? is a piecemeal collection of covers, mediocre songs written and sung by Hyde from That 70s Show Anton Barbeau (the album is actually credited to The Loud Family & Anton Barbeau), and an EP’s worth of Miller originals. “Total Mass Destruction” is the album’s best cut, though the fact that it’s not actually a very new song makes me slightly nervous. Still, it’s an amiable, catchy tune that articulates Miller’s difficulties in rationalizing putting in the effort of making a new album when few people even care about the existing records. (Click here to buy it from 125 Records.)