This is a really demented release with good -- if often sparse -- instrumentation. The music ranges from authentic-sounding garage rock to Ween-like vocals with Casio, as Danny Cohen unwinds a cotton-candy spiral of unique, disturbed, and sometimes ridiculously immature lyrics ("they burned the tortilla intentionally...all because I complained that there was no cheese"). While listening to this cavalcade of dementia, Nick Cave, Frank Zappa, Frank Pahl, and other eccentrics are called to mind by Cohen's different vocal deliveries. Likewise, there are instrumental details that alternately recall the organ sound of Mr. Quintron, the Casio popscapes of Gok recordings, the sound of John Frusciante's first solo album, and various '60s garage rock. Highlights include the title track, which is a catchy pop tour of "every Danny that ever lived," as narrated by the museum's guide; the post-meditation, visionary adventures of "Astral Rag" (which adds kazoo and barrelhouse piano to lines like, "Took me by the arm, led me like a whore, and showed me Jesus on a lunar shore..."); and "Pentagram"'s "Satan cut out my heart...stored it in a cookie jar high on a shelf." This is another release for fans of unexpected lyrics along the lines of song poem recordings (Rodd Keith's I Died Today, or the Beat of the Traps compilation), even if it is a more self-conscious effort.
© Joslyn Layne /TiVo