Full Disclosure: Emre Peker is a very good friend of mine. I have spent countless hours listening to and talking about music with this man. In my mind that makes the following best review we've ever received all the more meaningful.

Pants on Fire

Once, there were two gentlemen in Virginia. One rocked out at the basement of Tokyo Rose with the punk-rock band Excitebike, defying the conventional hippie-fratboy music scene. The other grew a fantastic mustache, among other things.

Then the two gents graduated. Then they lived in farmland. Then, experimented with some beats. Finally, drummer Sysop and bassist Ted Dancing realized that Charlottesville was way too small for their expansive sound.

So, to meet their audience, Sysop and Dancing embarked on the Moon Tour and broadcast the new sound of their new band, Slow Children. The band was musically complex and intriguing, but not easily accessible.

Nevertheless, Slow Children's two albums, Meat Salad and Resting on Our Laurels, included some hits (Sauerkraut comes to mind) and helped cultivate the band's sensational shows (in a Maryland highway rest stop; dorms, bars and odd locations across the country) which shocked crowds, drew attention from authorities and gave rise to their dedicated, eclectic fan base.

During the the Moon Tour, Slow Children hit San Francisco and liked her. SF liked Slow Children. Sysop and Dancing moved West.

Enter Lauren Lauren: the soft, wide-ranging and playful vocals of the band. With the third element in, and "Slow Children" mushrooming as a band name across the U.S., the trio decided on a name change. Cosmetics and necessity, you know.

Pants Pants Pants fit. Nice and tight. Sleek and hot. Original and funky.



And just this week, Pants Pants Pants released its second album: Ok, Fine.

Embellished with smart, catchy lyrics, the album is a mix of ... well, a mix of all good things music. Ok, Fine defies definition. It's poppy, and self-declaredly so. It's summery, that is, you can play it at the beach, in your car, on your balcony or passing out half-drunk in your bed and expect it to bring you pleasant memories each time you hear it.

It's the album that prompts the statement: "Dude, I can't tell you how good it is, just get your hands on it."

Beginning with the self-teasing, and gratifying, first track "Ok, Fine" to the butterflies-in-your-stomach "Dino Love" with its "will, will, will you be, be mine," slow melancholy of "Moonpretty," upbeat rhythms of "Human Machines" with its 1940s-movie-score intro and background, and the unexpected cover of Pearl Jam's "Jeremy," the album flows like cheap beer in a frat party. Only, you are consuming an endless stock of Cristal balthazars.

The playful Tater Tot is my personal favorite. Between the "oh, oh, oh" and "oh, yeah, yeah" and "oh, woah, woah, woah" there is nothing sensible. The murmuring sounds are my own native gibberish, the tune uppidy and catchy. I can close my eyes and imagine snowboarding on waves, farming on clouds, drinking cool-aid out of the sun. Yes, beautifully silly and inducing happiness all around. That is, Tater Tot.

The rest of the album does not disappoint either - it is a roller coaster. And in that, one you will not tire of.

Ok, Fine hit me at a time I was looking for fresh music. After tuning in to the album for three days straight, I can say confidently, comfortably and with utmost ecstasy that this album, my fellow Gybrians, is one of the best things to happen to music - in a long, long time.

Get your hot pants here. And there's a Pants Pants Pants link is on the left, enjoy the hotness of the Website, too.

As for me, I'll be floating in the Sega-inspired sounds of "Bonk Argh Bonk Dink Smash."



posted by Emre Peker