20 June 2006

Be Your Own Pet (self titled), Universal 2006

           I have a feeling the amount you will like this album is probably directly, if not exponentially, related to your interest in being a complete and total crazed asshole.  Not being a square is definitely a huge plus.  For those of us with rough edges, this album is the most amazing thing ever.  The album hovers in between being completely and totally in your face and being COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY IN YOUR FUCKING FACE.
    I managed to catch the band for the first time last summer on tour with Q and not U.  It was a great summer of showing up at shows alone with a mere desire to dance manically even if all the other indie kids desired smoking and staring.  With such a mind state, there can be no better band.  They pounded on stage pushing the quarter of audience that were complete dicks straight into the other three quarters who were haunting the bar and back corners.  Their lead singer hailed back every insult from the audience like the most disgusting of rockers.  Add to the amazement of this, the fact that she is a blond high school hottie.  Not a scenester hottie.  Straight up just a cutie by anyone's standards.
    Their new album packs all the wildness and straight-up immaturity of their live show which has built up quite the internet following and landed them a spot on this year's bill at Coachella.  The lyrics never attempt to be deep.  It's superficial, young, and just really fun.  Come on, a song about bicycles!!!  Songs about being "an independent motherfucker" and "taking away your virginity."
    While most of the CD moves across at lightning quick pace with 1 to 2 minute blasts of  insanity, the band slows it down.  Well, a little.  Like, some three-minute songs that don't require the movement of a cardiac arrest.  It's definitely a good thing as anything else would seem out of place.  But, hey a little bit of variation in the formula is good.
    If anything, I was a little bit disappointed that some of the songs on their smaller EP's didn't make it on the album.  The band has never been better than on their "Damn Damn Leash" EP which seemed to catch a little bit more of their craziness before it was given an exact direction by numerous articles.  Songs like "Spill" simply were juvenile and dance crazy while some of the songs on this self-titled full-length feel like they have been created merely to fit the format of the band.  But, hey it's not like the format requires a lot of emotional involvement anyway.
    So, to all of you little kids out there Be Your Own Pet has a message: "Have fun and be safe with it / Just kidding, FUCK SHIT UP!"  Tear down those boundaries, baby, and have a good summer.  I probably lost anybody uptight halfway through anyway with all this pointless cursing.  So, for those of you left….let's go get wasted and punch car windows.

-Graham Culbertson
General Manager

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