Far Rad - This Candy's Gross (Johann's Face Records)

Reviews by Mark Oster

Great band name, great album title. Let's get that out of the way out front. Now to the matter of reviewing the actual material, not quite as easy, to my less electronically trained ear. I would agree with a Fischerspooner comparison, only with more human personality, both to the music itself and the lyrical content. It's a fascinating listen, alot of it sounds like they took samples from old video games, a fact they seem acutely aware of on "8 Bit World" which actually contains a Justin Bailey reference, and seems to be about Mike Tyson's PunchOut! (On a side note, I think it's about time for a new Mike Tyson video game...I'll let your imagination run from there.) The music is comprised of the aforementioned electronic video gamey sounds layered 2-4 deep behind a mechanical dancey drum beat with spoken, shouted and sometimes sung (mostly on a Queers cover contained within) humorous and repetitive rhythmic vocal patterns, which remind me of older Dead Milkmen. Definitely unique and addicting, I would say an item of great interest to the more adventurous listener or fan of punk electronic.

Originally posted in Issue 2.2, March/April 2005