Aluminum Tadpole - "More of the Same" (is quite different)

Just when you thought you'd heard it all, you end up with an album like this.

 
Our understanding is that in a distant, dystopian future, creeks will not run naturally and will thus be teeming with Aluminum Tadpole(s). Know that this compilation CD by the band of the same name is packed with so many polly-wogs, here at Potluck we're like little kids at the creek-bed without enough zip-lock bags.

Some pretty interesting stuff, to say the least.

Where do we begin?

The album "More of the Same" by the indie band Aluminum Tadpole will make you laugh while still shocking you with a voltage of surprises (does aluminum conduct electricity?). With twenty-two tracks in all, ranging from the humorous, to the strange, to the "what the...?" listeners are treated to a box of only the freshest pre-frogs. Here are a few favorites according to our esteemed review staff:

"Indian Torture Dance" (which doesn't insult Native Americans, or "torture" the listener, but instead features an enjoyable, yet slightly... off... sense of direction with a southwestern feel). The song almost reminds one of visiting a roadside stop near Arizona (think "The Thing?"). The listener is wondering... should we have stopped here? Do people really... live here? If we stay here much longer, what's going to happen to us? Moving on in the album there's "Dance of the Red Tail" which is one of the favorite "what the?..." tracks of our PS staff. The song features rambling humanoids, of some kind, expressing themselves, all at roughly the same time, for no apparent reason. We love this track.

Then there's "Ping Pong Preston vs The Evil Dolly." In spite of the crazy title, musically this is actually one of the more mainstream, and melodic tunes on the album. Well, sort of. If you listen to the lyrics, you'll ponder over some gut-twisting speculation about who could possibly come up with this cracked version of a children's story? It's also striking to realize this slightly off-kilter Beach Boys-esque feel-good but maybe-not-so-good approach to music was thought to have been pioneered by the obscure band Masters of the Hemisphere - perhaps as a soft, more gentle They Might Be Giants (see Masters' "I am not a Freemdoom" album), but lo and behold, here's a Tadpole track that predates those guys!

Song for Flanigan. It's just not right. You can't just do that. You can't throw in all the kitchen sink keyboards, unconventional bells and whistles, and then strip down to merely an early Bob Dylan (or Woody Guthrie) arrangement. Also, whoever this Flanigan person is he must be someone special, but it's definitely his loss for having missed a Bladerunner viewing party. Great song. 

The track Dr. Jacque is Not Crazy, which was one of our first exposures to A.T. (it's on the Worst Kitchen sampler, also) remains a very re-spinnable masterpiece of random, yet enjoyable, weirdness (This just in! Check out Dr. Jacque video right here!)

Oddly, after embarking on a journey of so much slippery, pole-swimming zaniness, the listener experiences "Estee du Jour" and discovers an instrumental track of genuinely, shredding jazz guitar - with, of course, some off-the-creek-bed path twists. From there, one ventures right back to a retro-synth sound in the "Dr. Wilkinson" song and you wonder why he'd be dressed that way (?) when the song hearkens back to an early eighties movie soundtrack - or perhaps the last season of Starsky and Hutch. We dig the ironic groove of this song. 

Not to be outdone, the very next track ("Summer Camp in Hell") might be the best of the entire album. Part one (Song for Beeker), especially, is so terrifically, stupendously... annoying... that you have to love it. One artist used to describe his band's music as beautiful chaos - but this is more akin to beautiful annoyance. If the guy in this song says "yeah" one more time... but then he finally stops, and what follows... well... words cannot describe. Anyone with any challenge of sleep deprivation because of night terrors will need to be careful about listening to this one. 

When a band tries their hand at so much uninhibited experimentation there are moments when gems just seem to squeeze out naturally, and that's the case with much of the album - including one of the last numbers entitled "This Business." It's a very catchy, lo-fi track that will remind you of how stripped down and simple a really good song can be.

In all - you need to make a trip to the creek-bed (also known as "Worst Kitchen Records") and get you a copy of some Aluminum Tadpole tune-age. Bring lots of zip-lock bags, and play around. Gett all muddy. You'll be glad you did.

P.S.  

Aluminum Tadpole music is available on Worst Kitchen Records.