Search - Russell Simins :: Public Places

Some variety, at least

twinky buttspong | AUSTIN, TX United States | 06/04/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"In many ways this comes close to being a standard adolescent white-boy pre-rap-thrash hard rock. The opening track features a woman explaining how to er, perform (...) as the music pounds away. The very next track is a three-chord anthem about getting it on in public places with a woman who "likes girls, but she likes me better" - kind of infantile, but it totally rocks the house. It's all in good fun. But there's also a lot of other styles and stuff on here. Some of it sounds a whole lot like Beck. There's some sampling and scratching and hip hop stuff, and lots of weird sound effects and instrumentation, and some cool background singing ladies (Mio Hatori sounds wonderful on the last track). The lyrics seem to get a little less better(...), but then again they don't really seem to be saying anything particularly special. And um, I hate to be mean, but the biggest problem is how Mr Simins' rather nasal singing voice just drones along annoyingly despite every vocal effects trick applied. Altogether okay, nothing worth writing home about, but tracks 2, 5 & 7 are worth a few spins."