Pros: It's funky dance music with an offbeat, quirky feel mixed in
Cons: A few tracks feel out of place with the rest of the album
The Bottom Line: John Flansburgh manages to take the offbeat nature of They Might Be Giants and infuse it with a fresh, funky grove with his side project, Mono Puff.
DrFaustus's Full Review: It's Fun to Steal * by Mono Puff
Typically, when a member of an established band takes a hiatus to work on a side project, it usually means they want to do something more experimental, something that them further away from the mainstream than the work of their regular group would do. Sometimes the experiment pays off, and sometimes the artist in question fall flat on his or her face, but most of the time the results are at the very least, interesting.
But what are we to expect when an artist tackles a side project while on hiatus from a group that's already so far away from the mainstream that it couldn't find its way back with a map and a pickaxe? Well, let's look at the case of John Flansburgh's band Mono Puff. Flansburg is best known (by those who actually do know who he is) as half of They Might Be Giants, arguably the quirkiest, most offbeat, experimental force in music for the last twenty years. Those that know the band know that listeners can expect absolutely anything from the band. One would think that Flansburgh would be able to indulge all of his wildest creative impulses within the confines of They Might Be Giants, yet in the mid-nineties, after the release of their sixth album, Flansburg took a break from his bandmates and formed Mono Puff with a few of his friends.
Mono Puff's first album, Unsupervised, proved that Flansburg didn't need to work with John Linnel, his longtime Giants cohort, to produce offbeat, quirky tunes. This debut, though, had all the earmarks of a They Might Be Giants album, albeit one that felt a little looser and less polished. It wasn't until Mono Puff's second album, 1998's It's Fun to Steal, that Flansburgh proved he could make music that is quirky and offbeat, yet still manages to sound distinct from what he had created with They Might Be Giants. The reason behind the development of this new sound comes not so much from any new elements of songwriting, but rather from the addition of "The Mono Puff All-Stars." While Mono Puff's first album was recorded as a simple trio, It's Fun to Steal incorporates the musical talents of more than a dozen revolving side men who conga drums, violin, dj scratching, horns, piano, beat box, mellotron, and so much into the mix. The result is something much more organic and groove oriented than anything recorded by They Might Be Giants (not to mention far more likely to fit the night club dance floors).
The album opens with the bass heavy Creepy, a song that feels much more funky than the title would imply. The lyrics are as surreal as anything that They Might Be Giants might put out ("She's got a thimble/full of all I know/A survey of California/so Los Feliz, so Silver Lake") but the rhythms, driven along by a thick fuzzy bass like a wet velvet shroud with a little help from some frenetic congos and occasion record scratching, are enough to get almost anyone run out under the disco ball and let the rhythm take over.
Many of the album's other songs also have a distinct dance floor feel. We've got the down tempo, jazzy funk of Taste the Bass alongside Extra Crispy, with its disco-style strings and offbeat lyrical lyrics like "I'm gonna rock you just one more time, don't make me rock you again"). There's also the sample-heavy Dedicated that proclaims to be "not only, but especially for the ladies" with an almost industrial feel to musical collage. Later on we've got Dashiki Lover that mixes its disco style bass line with a host of middle eastern instruments in such a way as to make listens either scratch their heads in confusion or jump up and dance (or both).
Not everything on the album has such an overt dance music feel, though. There are plenty of other styles that rear their heads. We've got a new wave influenced anthem in Backstabbing Liar and the mellow, soulful It's Fun To Steal, in which Flansburgh sings about the pros and cons of being the type to break hearts as the trumpet and trombone lines sway slyly between choruses. There are also some straightforward examples of pop music, such as the goofy character study Hillbilly Drummer Girl with it's brief guitar hooks and tight harmonies in the choruses. (Of all the songs on It's Fun to Steal, this last one sounds the closest to anything that They Might Be Giants could record, and wouldn't sound out of place on any of their more recent albums.)
Then there are a few songs that simply defy classification, but are infectiously fun, nevertheless. Most notably is Poison Flowers, a song that has all the musical earmarks of a morose grunge anthem, but lyrically comes off as the sad, lonely lament of a misunderstood mad scientist. Just look at these lyrics:
Who's going to steal the rowboats from the lifeguard station?
Who'll type manifestos at my summer job?
Who's going to build my bomb?
Who's going to build my bomb?
And grow poison flowers... poison flowers... poison flowers with me?
It's either insanely brilliant, or brilliantly insane, but either way, it's a song that can't help making listeners smile.
There are also a few songs that don't quite fit in with the rest, breaking up the album's flow a little. Pretty Fly is an a cappella song that seems to mimic the tone of a children's song arranged with minor key Asian chord structures. Flansburgh's wife Robin Goldwasser sings the melody and also overdubs all of the harmonies, producing an interesting song, but one that doesn't fit in with everything else on the album. The album's closing song Night Security is an acoustic folk tune of the solitary life of a night watchman, sung by the ultra-low voice of Barry Carl (from the group Rockapella). Again, it's an interesting, offbeat song, but the folk feel to the music simply feels out of place with the rest of the album. Even though these songs don't quite feel like they belong, they don't detract much from the album, as both of them fall towards the end of the lineup.
Here's the full track listing:
1. Creepy
2. It's Fun to Steal
3. Poison Flowers
4. Mr. Hughes Says
5. Imaginary Friends
6. Taste the Bass
7. Extra Crispy
8. Dedicated
9. Backstabbing Liar
10. Hillbilly Drummer Girl
11. Dashiki Lover
12. Pretty Fly
13. I Just Found Out What Everybody Knows
14. Night Security
(Actually, that's not quite the full track listing. It's Fun to Steal features a very well-hidden bonus track that is easy to overlook. If you simply let the album continue playing at the end of the last track, you won't find anything. To hear this hidden track (a bizarre monologue spoken by a computer) you need to start the first track, and then rewind the track to about two minutes before it's starting point. If you already own It's Fun to Steal and have never heard this hidden track, you owe it to yourself to give it a listen.)
It's Fun to Steal isn't without its flaws, but it's a good album for those looking for an energetic dance groove with an offbeat feel. Fans of They Might Be Giants will recognize many familiar elements, but there are enough fresh new elements to let Mono Puff stand on their own as distinct, worthwhile group.
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