About two and half years ago I wrote a post about Amber Ojeda. That’s the only post I can think of off the top of my head that I was ever really displeased with or that ever sparked controversy with an artist. I recently got back in contact with Amber and expressed my interest in revisiting her music so that I could portray it in a more positive light. She was surprised by my efforts to reconnect with her after so long, but was all for the idea. So here we go…

Amber Ojeda

Amber Ojeda is a talented singer whose primary musical roots are in jazz, but she is equally as comfortable recording and playing music in the styles of R&B and hip-hop. In fact, a number of her songs will flip-flop from one genre to the other. For example, the short album I took a look at in my original post is mostly R&B and hip-hop in nature. It includes really catchy songs such as “All I Need (Money Mix),” which includes a thumping beat and a supporting male rapper, and “Love from the Band,” which is an R&B song with jazz-like drum fills and a lilting piano that loops throughout the song. Just a quick note, those two songs quickly became personal favorites of mine and can almost always be found on my iPhone. And “All I Need (Money Mix)” has become a favorite song of mine to drum along with since I can always come up with some inspired beats while listening to it.

I’ll provide downloads of those two previously mentioned songs for a limited time at the end of this post as always. Listen to those two songs and compare them to this live performance of “Love from the Band” from YouTube.

Sounds a little different doesn’t it? Whereas the recorded version of “Love from the Band” had a quicker pace, faster and more prevalent percussion, and a more thumping bass, the live version wasn’t so heavy on the drums and was therefore a little lighter, a little smoother, and there was also a saxophone and I’m guessing a little improvisation added to the mix. There’s a clear division of styles between the two versions of the one song even though there is some clear jazz influence in the recorded version. As to which version is better, I couldn’t say. I guess it really depends on what you’re in the mood for; they’re both really good, so it’s really up to a preference of jazz versus R&B.

As for what Amber Ojeda has been doing more recently, well, she’s still working on new material. You can check out a couple of her more recent songs, “Lady Like” and “Broken Is Broken,” at No Samples. The most recent of these two songs, according to Amber herself, is “Broken to Broken,” which is a relatively simple yet catchy R&B/hip-hop song. The focus is mostly on Amber’s vocals and the story of a broken relationship, hence the title. It’s interesting to actually hear Amber rap a little bit as well. Of the two songs on the site, I honestly prefer “Lady Like” simply because the acoustic guitar in the background adds a little more musical complexity that you can sink your teeth into. But don’t get me wrong, they’re both great songs that could easily become incredibly popular if given the right exposure.

Amber also informed me that she’s just finishing up a series of winter shows at Angel’s in Santa Monica where she has focused on performing jazz. In fact, you can catch her this Sunday, March 14 from 8:30-11 PM if you’re in the area. If you can’t make that show, then you can see her live at the Dakota Music Lounge, also in Santa Monica, on April 23 at 10:30 PM. Hopefully, you’ll be lucky enough to see a mix of both R&B and jazz if you go see her live.

Also make sure to check out Amber Ojeda at MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube.

Amber Ojeda – Love from the Band
Amber Ojeda – All I Need (Money Mix)

Hey all you Radio KRUD fans (if such a thing exists anymore)! Rival Dave is back from a hefty hiatus. I’ll have to admit that I got really bored with the whole format of the thing, which is why I couldn’t bring myself to update for so long. I’m going to try and change up my writing style a bit so I can rediscover what I originally loved about the whole KRUD thing and avoid falling into that rut again.

So to start with, I guess I should get to a band that quickly became a personal favorite of mine after they submitted music to me a few years ago: The Passive Aggressives. Not only are they an incredibly talented group with a unique sound, but I feel like I owe a debt to them. When they sent me a second album to review, I found the standard promotional material slipped inside the CD case, but wasn’t I surprised when my previous post about the band was quoted alongside reviews from magazines and other more traditional media outlets.

With flattery like that, I feel guilty for getting to their album Conflict Resolution practically two years after it was released. At least I can hope that that any hype, no matter when it comes out, is always beneficial. And, like I said, I owe the band for thinking enough of my post to quote it in their promo material.

So here we go…

The Passive Aggressives: Jose Santiago (Vocals, Guitars, and Percussion), Keren Gaiser (Lead Vocals, Percussion, and Keyboards), Damian Lynch (Vocals, Bass, Ukulele, and Percussion), and Tim Dayner (Vocals, Drums, and Percussion)

First of all, let me say that The Passive Aggressives seem to have come a long way in such a short amount of time between their self-titled EP and Conflict Resolution. They, of course, still have that heavy-hitting, crunchy, and bass-laden sound they established in their EP, which is evident in songs like “Soundtrack to the Voices in My Head.” I’m actually listening to Conflict Resolution on my PS3 as I write this post (my PC isn’t putting out good sound write now, so my PS3 is my best bet for good sound output), and when I looked back to the TV as that track started, the visualizer was of a hilly landscape rushing towards the screen. It was a strangely appropriate image what with the fast pace of the song, the deep, pounding drums, the motor-like buzz of the guitars, and the frantic, sometimes snarling, vocals. It’s not hard to imagine yourself jetting down a long stretch of highway, watching the scenery fly by with “Soundtrack to the Voices in My Head” blasting out of speakers.

But The Passive Aggressives have also shown with Conflict Resolution that they are capable of producing soft, emotional songs that rock just as hard, such as “Slice It Away.” This is one of those songs where it’s hard to tell exactly what message or story the lyrics are supposed to convey, which is a good thing. The lyrics are clever, emotionally evocative, and they leave the listener thinking and coming up with their own interpretation. The beginning line, “I open up my eyes to find pills at my fingertips,” along with lines like, “This present situation is mostly self-inflicted,” and, “Head that’s been aching for days, so much that I can’t see straight,” would make one think that this is just a song about struggling with drug addiction. Then there are lines about “flashing headlights,” “traffic copters circling,” and “floating through a spiderweb of shattering glass,” which is a really clever image, by the way. So did the person in this song just get into a car crash and fly through their windshield as a result of drugs and alcohol? I’m guessing so. But no matter what your interpretation is, it’s a great song that you will want to listen to several times over.

Then there’s weirder songs like “Lulla-Bye Nation,” which kinda sounds like… well, a lullabye. I don’t know who of you will recognize this other song, but it reminded me of “Darlin’ Ukulele” by Jolie Holland since they’re both catchy, simple little tunes with minimal instrumentation (i.e. a ukulele and a xylophone). “Lulla-Bye Nation” sort of digresses from the sound and style of the rest of the album, but The Passive Aggressives are by no means a traditional rock band, so it’s a strange fit with the inherent weirdness of The Passive Aggressives (not that weirdness is a bad thing, mind you).

Speaking of weirdness, The Passive Aggressives even do a cover of “Happy Together” by The Turtles. I’ll admit that when I first heard this song, or when I first hear most covers for that matter, I was immediately dismissive. “What the hell have they done to this classic pop song?” That’s what I thought to myself. But eventually I had to realize that there’s nothing wrong with a unique interpretation of a song, no matter how thoroughly it’s ingrained into our cultural unconsciousness. What’s especially unique about this cover are the odd vocal harmonies. Keren Gaiser takes the lead with her sultry singing and one of the other members (I honestly don’t know which one) harmonizes in a deep, breathy voice. The contrast between the two vocals is so great that it puts you off at first, but they end up working really well together once you get into the song. Add onto that strange vocal mix some grinding guitars, a thumpy, funky bass, and a trippy guitar solo and you get a cover of “Happy Together” unlike any other you’ve heard before.

So to summarize Conflict Resolution and The Passive Aggressives as a whole: funky, crunchy, thumpin’, bumpin’, sometimes mellow, always rockin’, and definitely weird, but weird in the best way possible.

Well, that’s about it for this post. Hopefully, I can keep up with a decent pace with the posts in the future. Keep reading and providing feedback.

Buy Conflict Resolution at CD Baby,
Amazon, or iTunes.

The Passive Aggressives – Soundtrack to the Voices in My Head
The Passive Aggressives – Happy Together
The Passive Aggressives – Slice It Away
The Passive Aggressives – Lulla-Bye Nation

Also make sure to check out The Passive Aggressives on YouTube and MySpace.

Sorry I haven’t updated in a while. My life has been full of work and change, and in the midst of it all I started to lose that passion for finding and spreading new music. But I’m starting to rediscover that passion and I will try to update with more traditional KRUD fair in the near future, probably once I get moved into my new digs in a week or so. I may even try a new format, something quick and audible.

Either way, I am inspired to get back into the groove of things and I have several albums to talk about that have been sitting around in my “to hype” pile for a while. Much apologies to you patient musicians out there.

Just so I don’t leave any anxious music seekers hanging, I have four really great music sources for you to check out. One is a podcast called WFMU’s Anti Static with Mike Lupica. It’s a really quick and casual podcast where host Mike Lupica plays three tracks a week off of three different 45’s by independent rock bands from the 90’s. It’s filled with nostalgic goodness and has that authentic lo-fi alternative rock I rarely got a chance to hear in my teen years but always loved.

There’s also this really interesting website I just discovered called Noise Trade. It allows users to download albums for free if they spread the word to five other people or to buy the album for whatever price they want at a minimum price of $1. I doubt you would have heard any of the artists on the site, but after a small sampling there seems to be some really interesting tunes up there. It’s a unique, innovative concept and definitely worth checking out.

I also have two other podcasts I wanted to mention, but these are just basically outlets for me to hear music that I really enjoy but never really actually sit down and listen to very often. One is the WGBH Classical Performance Podcast, which is an excellent way to listen to all the necessities from the world of classical music without actually having to throw down any cash. The other podcast is the Drum & Bass Arena Podcast, which brings you a weekly drum & bass mix. Each mix lasts approximately an hour or more. Great for parties or just bobbing your head to if you’re like me and aggressive beats are a guilty pleasure of yours.

Kalliopi

After an extended hiatus, I bring you some fun pop music from Athens, Greece courtesy of Kalliopi. When I started playing her mini-album Around the World in iTunes, my first thought was, “This stuff is really catchy, but the sound quality is horrible.” Turns out my equalizer settings had been switched to something really strange, so I mixed things up, started fresh, and everything sounded perfectly fine.

All in all, Kalliopi’s music follows a pretty standard pop-rock formula, but as I’ve said before, anything that follows a formula is fine so long as the right formula is followed. Kalliopi’s music sounds like something that you might hear on a top 40 station, so it has that contemporary pop feel to it, but it isn’t simplistic or stupid. This isn’t “Sk8terboi” (did I spell that incorrectly enough?). So it’s got the entertainment value of a typical radio song, but it doesn’t kill your brain cells when you listen to it. I think the dead brain cells mostly come from the fact that mainstream radio force feeds you the same stuff over an over again.

Although, the three tunes you find in Around the World do have a semi-addictive quality to them. These are the kinds of songs you will find yourself randomly humming bits and pieces of throughout your day. You’ll be riding on the subway or the bus, then you’ll start lightly tapping your foot and gently singing the chorus of “Naked” to yourself until you realize that people are looking at your mostly self-contained concert. If you’re at all like me, you just kick it up notch and go into full musical number mode at that point and really project your voice like Pavarotti with your chest puffed out and your arms extended behind you.

I guess the only other thing I have to say about Kalliopi is that even though she is from Greece, her lyrics are in English, so don’t worry about any language barriers. Also, make sure you check out < "http://www.myspace.com/kalliopimusic">her MySpace page, because there are alternate versions of her songs there than what you might find on her album. There is certainly a very different take on “Naked” there.

Purchase Around the World by Kalliopi at CD Baby, Amazon, or iTunes

Kalliopi – Naked

Also make sure to check out Kalliopi’s Facebook page. Oh, and after all of that stuff I said about the radio, you can actually find her on some stations. Look at her site to figure out where.

This weekend is the Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore, Md. It may be like looking for a needle in a haystack there, but if you’re going, I’m going to be there tomorrow (Sunday) helping out with the Charm City Roller Girls at their exhibition bout from 7 to 8 PM, and roaming around and about the rest of the time. Keep an eye out for me as “Killer Glennuine Draft” with Harm City Homicide (Baltimore’s men’s roller derby league) if you want to say hi and talk music and/or roller derby!

Edit: If you want to get in touch with me while you’re there, best way is going to be via twitter

Pacific UV

Do you ever struggle to find something to listen to late at night when the day is winding down and you just need something really slow and dreamy to parallel your state of mind? That’s where a space rock band like Pacific UV comes in handy. Their new album Longplay 2 is a very solemn collection of tracks that sedate your soul like a breeze blowing through a field of wheat as you watch the setting sun. It’s a very beautiful album in it’s sheer atmospheric tranquility, which is interrupted only briefly by moments of distorted noise that act as a break from the constant, somberness.

One of the most striking aspects of the album is how Pacific UV manages to keep it from becoming too repetitive. Styles of ambient music such as this typically rely heavily on electronic instrumentation and there is a great temptation to let catchy beats and melodies loop several times over within a song while occasionally switching patterns up here and there. This adds a severe amount of redundancy and length to a lot of electronica songs. Just think of the stereotypical techno song and how ridiculously repetitive it is. However, Pacific UV uses typical electronic techniques infrequently on Longplay 2 and relies more on clever composition to evoke a sense of ethereality while providing sonic variation as well.

The first track, “Alarmist,” is a perfect example of Pacific UV’s style. It uses repetition as an element of the song, but is not a tiring kind of repetition that makes you become bored with the song. It is a repetition that at first builds up to create a melodic theme and then uses variations on that theme later in the song. As I said previously, it shows the use of creative composition reminiscent of classical music rather than simply pounding away the same looped samples over and over again.

However, the best song on the album by far is the final track “Ljiv,” which is the most likely song to be appreciated by those who aren’t fans of the space rock genre. It makes use of repetition in order to build up to a sonic theme as I mentioned before, but does so to a more effective end. The song consists of an ever-growing number of classical strings and gentle piano strokes that eventually weave into each other to form a melodious gossamer of sound so overwhelming that it sends shivers through your body. It’s almost so gentle as to be sad. It may cause tears to start to well up in your eyes if you are one who is easily affected by the evocative power of music.

I highly recommend Longplay 2 for those of you who need an album that is more calming than what you may already have in your collection. Even if you don’t want to get the whole thing, then I suggest that you get your hands on “Ljiv” via iTunes or some other source once we take it down from the site. It will be well worth your time.

Purchase Longplay 2 by Pacific UV at iTunes and Amazon.

Pacific UV – Alarmist
Pacific UV – Ljiv

For more information about Pacific UV, visit their MySpace page and Warm Records.

Sarandon: Tom Greenhalgh (Drums), Crayola (Vocals & Guitar), and Alan Brown (Bass)

You know those “what if” scenarios people like to come up with? What if Buddy Holly were still alive and recording music? What if Biz Markie had never recorded “Alone Again”? What if a hardcore punk band turned to indie rock? Well, I could spend a long time arguing the hypothetical repercussions of the first two scenarios, but I can provide a short, concrete example of what the third might sound like by introducing you to Sarandon, a trio from South London.

I tell you these guys really kick out the jams on their newest album Kill Twee Pop!. They have the chaotic energy that a hardcore rock band has with frenzied guitar playing and plenty of drum fills, but they rely more on catchy riffs and solid song structures than just going crazy on their instruments. And replace wild screaming with more low key yet still highly invigorated vocals that are reminiscent of The Ramones or other classic punk rock bands of that era. You really get a great feel for their style once the album’s title track starts off the listening experience. Once that song got into gear, everything I was going to say about Sarandon in this post popped into my head all at once and I knew I was going to love the rest of the album.

One particular aspect of Kill Twee Pop! that really sticks out is the quick and precise musicianship, which I briefly touched on above. As I also mentioned, Sarandon’s music has a sort of speedy madcap style to it, but everything is played so cleanly that it sounds incredibly clean and coherent. This is a stark contrast to bands like Melt Banana or The Locust where everything tends to meld into a wall of sonic fury. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I mean, that’s what I love best about those two bands, but it’s nice to have groups like Sarandon come in and mix things up. Even so, they do seem to indulge in moments of seemingly more improvised noise making at the very beginning of “Very Flexible” and towards the end of “Massive Haircut” along the lines of their more cacophonous sibling bands.

Of all the great instrumentation, I particularly enjoy the heavy, dead-on drumming on this album. I always love a good drummer and Tom Greenhalgh manages to stray away from the typical rock percussion to come up with some great, catchy beats that really add some oomph to the tracks. “Remember Mavis?” stands above the rest as an incredible track for outstanding drumming. Even if you aren’t playing the song loud enough to have your floorboards shake, you still feel vibrations going up through your legs just because of how much the drums are quaking up the album at that point.

Kill Twee Pop! is an album that I cannot recommend highly enough for those of you who like high energy rock music or hardcore punk. Sarandon is one of those bands that crosses boundaries and is hard to classify within one single genre, but all the better in this case; it gives more people with more diverse musical tastes something to agree on. At least I hope so. I bet Sarandon hopes so as well.

Purchase Kill Twee Pop! by Sarandon at Slumberland Records, Amazon, or iTunes

Sarandon – Kill Twee Pop!
Sarandon – Remember Mavis?
Sarandon – Massive Haircut

For more information about Sarandon, visit their MySpace page.

Arianna Solare

Let me start off by saying that I predicted the sound of this artist’s music just based on her name. It seems like some musicians are born into their genres, just like everyone named Jeeves is doomed to a life of servitude and/or consulting. Just the sound of the name Arianna Solare made me think of indie folk-rock, which is exactly the kind of music you find on her debut EP Book of Us. But hey, maybe it was just dumb luck or post-hoc reasoning on my part.

Either way, Arianna Solare is a very engaging artist with a unique vocal style. Her singing has a rich deepness to it that is very alluring and also provides an emotional maturity to her compositions. There is also a distinctive quaver that wafts her voice across the soft instrumentation in the background. This is probably a technique she picked up during her time spent performing in temples in India, which, according to her biography on her webpage, is where her current singing style began to take shape.

Lyrically, Arianna Solare seems to remain focused on the subjects of love and her own life. Basically, the first four tracks can be dumbed down to songs about relationships, successful and not, represented in natural and spiritual metaphors. But they aren’t exactly the typical boy meets girl pop songs. For example, the first track “Lift Me Up” is at the same a song about hope for the future and regret for the past. Arianna Solare sings in the chorus, “Love ain’t gonna break me this time / It’s gonna lift me up / Love ain’t gonna leave me dry / It’s gonna lift me up,” which shows that in the past love hasn’t always been so kind to her, but this time it will be different. And I have to wonder whether the line “The gods they must be crazy” is an intentional reference to the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy. That could score a higher rating for this album in the minds of some reviewers who really dig obscure pop culture references.

The final track of the album “Are You Coming With Me” is an autobiographical song that describes some of the details of Arianna Solare’s life. Sometimes I wonder if these kinds of songs are just the artists being egotistical and saying, “Hey, look at me! I’m interesting!” But I can’t fault someone for finding some therapy in expressing themselves through music, especially if they’re a smalltime artist. There is also the potential for others with similar tales find a connection through a song like this, especially if the details aren’t particularly specific. It seems that verses like, “I was livin where the sun don’t shine / Survivin on whiskey and wine / And the teardrops they fell from the sky / I found god in those city lights,” could apply to any number of people who had similar experiences.

Purchase Book of Us by Arianna Solare at CD Baby, iTunes, or Amazon.

Arianna Solare – As I Walk to the Edge
Arianna Solare – Are You Coming With Me

For more information on Arianna Solare, visit her MySpace page.

By the way, I have a confession to make. Arianna has always been one of my favorite names that I’ve never actually heard in reference to a living person. However, the meat of the confession is that it’s always been a standard name that I have used when naming characters in fantasy or sci-fi role-playing games. Yes. It’s true. I’m a geek. I doubt that you would have been able to guess that by the fact that I write a music blog.

T.H. White

Now this may seem to be an irrelevant starting point, but I’ve been a huge fan of Adam Carolla since around 1996, which is when I first started listening to Loveline. I’ve always enjoyed his very blunt and irreverent sense of humor as well as his tendency to maintain a realistic view of the world. One of the topics he frequently covers on his morning show, The Adam Carolla Show, is music. And, finally coming around to the point of all this, he often makes fun of music from particular decades for not being particularly “timeless.” “Tainted Love” by Soft Cell, for example, is clearly a song from the 80’s because of it’s incredibly simplistic, synthesized beats and keyboards. By the same token, I don’t think anyone would place “Fun, Fun, Fun” by The Beach Boys anywhere else besides the 60’s, even if they had never heard it before.

I say all this because T.H. White is an artist with a multi-decadal (Did I just invent a word? No, I looked it up. It exists.) sound. His new album The Private Spotlight includes elements of 70’s rock and funk, 80’s R&B and new wave, 90’s alternative rock and trip-hop, and contemporary electronica. As a result, you can’t pin his musical form down to a single decade and say, “This is where it belongs,” as you can with Soft Cell and The Beach Boys. Maybe you attribute individual songs with a particular decade, but overall T.H. White has a very expansive sound, which almost sounds like it wouldn’t work in concept just because there is such a drastic difference between the genres being combined. You wouldn’t imagine 70’s classic rock and 80’s new wave melding well togethering, yet it all works out in the same way that Beck’s genre-bending music somehow pulls so many conflicting elements together.

I’ll have to admit that I’m indulging in a little exaggeration in the description of T.H. White’s style by making it sound a little stranger or more groundbreaking than it really is. I just want to get the point across that he produces high quality tunes that are not easily pigeonholed into a particular genre. In fact, The Private Spotlight reminds me a lot of Simple Things by Zero 7, another stylistically far-reaching album by a band that is primarily labeled as “electronica.” I would also include T.H. White in that very broad category, but the infusion of rock and funk into his compositions can really increase the energy levels beyond what is characteristic of Zero 7 and other, mellower artists.

There are few songs on The Private Spotlight that stand out either for reasons of quality or uniqueness. “Private People” and “The Loft” stand out because of their more funk and R&B oriented sound. Both tracks make extensive use of the rhythmic, almost the percussive guitar playing technique that is typical of classic funk as well as catchy, pulsating beats. The vocals found on “Private People,” provided by Meghan Wolf, are very reminiscent of early 80’s R&B while “The Loft” uses vocal samples that exemplify traditional funk and R&B. In fact, I could imagine driving around in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City listening to “Private People” on the same radio station that played “Juicy Fruit” by Mtume. Sorry for isolating those of you who aren’t gamers or who haven’t played Vice City, but it provides a good context for those who are in the know.

Anyway, “Katie Starr of Silver” also stands out for being a little more heavy on the rock elements than any other song on the album. T.H. White’s singing on this track reminds me of Damon Albarn of the Gorillaz and Blur. In fact, I bet you that I could convince someone that this song is a rare, unreleased track by the Gorillaz that was recorded in the 90’s. It has that kind of alternative rock meets electronica vibe that the Gorillaz have. And it’s also pretty fun and catchy. I think I’m going to have stop writing right now and spend the rest of my time scheming.

Purchase The Private Spotlight by T.H. White

T.H. White – Private People
T.H. White – Katie Starr of Silver
T.H. White – The Loft

The Ginger Ninjas

In these times of pollution and global warming, it’s hard not to like a band like The Ginger Ninjas. Not necessarily because of what they say in their songs, but because of what they do on tour. They’re the first rock and roll band to tour on bicycles without the use of any gas-powered vehicles. Not only that, but they also use bicycles on stage to provide power for their speakers. This originally started as a one-time tour concept, but it is now standard practice for the band and they let audience members take turns on the bikes when they play concerts. Not only is that an interesting way of going green, but it promotes exercise in the process. Unfortunately, all the aerosol deodorant and air freshener that gets sprayed around all these sweaty concert goers negates all the pollution they’re trying to prevent.

Ignoring my tangential wisecracking, the band not only sets a good example, but they also have a really stellar sound. The Ginger Ninjas could most accurately be described as a folksy, funky, psychedelic band (seems like more and more psychedelia has been coming our way these days). There is also a definite influence of Latino culture, most notable in the occasional Spanish lyrics and the guitar playing. Their album The Pleasant Revolution only has about five full-length songs out of a total of eight tracks, but they are so strong collectively that you still feel satisfied after everything is all said and done.

Although, of all the tracks, “Dick Cheney” sticks out as being quite… unique. Not better or worse, just unique. It’s quite an experience just in itself since it’s so strange and over the top. The constant repetition of Dick Cheney’s name as the chorus and then slowly altering “Cheney” to “chain me” strikes me as being super cheesy. That and the theme of the song being that Dick Cheney needs more love. I guess maybe to get that puss off of his face? The line “I wanna love him like only a mother can love him. I wanna say coochie coochie coochie coo, my little Dicky poo,” makes me think that The Ginger Ninjas intended this song to be at least somewhat ridiculous. Especially since during the music video, the vocalist, a hippie-looking guy, is wearing a black and white dress and cuddling a baby with Dick Cheney’s head plastered onto it. Oh man, I can look forward to some strange nightmares when I go to sleep tonight. But the track still makes for a fun listen and you can’t help but smile if not laugh at how the subject matter is so weirdly treated.

The rest of the album is a little more normal than that. “Total Believer,” for example, is a really interesting song that is a mish mash of all sorts of mellow, groovy, psychedelic styles that make for a nice, pleasant tune. I already mentioned the funk and the Latino influences, but there is also a definite reggae vibe that you can feel in the rhythmic pacing of the song and the simplistic, almost percussive strum of the guitars. “Stuck on Earth” has much more folk and roots music in its sound and has an alternative rock kinda sound going for it as well. It reminds me of Wilco to a certain degree.

In fact, those of you who are fans of Wilco will most definitely enjoy the Ginger Ninjas. I suggest you support them if not for their excellent music then for their innovative approach to environmental conservation. Even if it does not seem that physical copies of The Pleasant Revolution are available, at least as far as I can tell, a downloadable copy is available via at their MySpace page. Additionally, you can purchase their other albums at CD Baby or iTunes.

The Ginger Ninjas – Total Believer
The Ginger Ninjas – Dick Cheney