Arm of Roger was Timmy Branca, Panda Nelson, Britney Fett, Zeke Doloric and Whitey Fong, and this, their second record (their debut, The Velvet Insides, was lost in a house fire) is impossible to describe. Let guitarist / songwriter Timmy Branca explain all to the confused listener - "Most people who have heard this record who don't know us that well think it's a weird one. I don't know about that. It's more all-encompassing to me, like a rock version of world-music or some shit." He's right. This record is the rhythm of the world spinning on its axis.
The album opener "Robot Escort", is a beautiful, heartfelt love song about a man who falls in love with a humanmade machine. Branca's lyrics lament a personal tragedy in which, a male rock-star, made of guts, flesh and emotion, is unsure whether his robotic partner reciprocates his awesome love. Branca's voice is Prince Charles versus Shane McGowan, an inebriated, regal drone, accompanied on this track by vomited foreign mumblings and a electric-shock spasnotic lo-fi pang.
"One Time they Called and Asked for Freddy" perfectly captures the mundane everyday goings-on of the day-to-day life of a rock star trying to chill out with friends. "Some people call me up and ask for people who don't live here. I'm going to blame all the zeros in my phone number", Fong sings. What follows are three minutes of glorious repetition, wrist-slittingly dull but with an unshakeable catchiness; a long list of names of people that don't live in the songwriters house. "One time they called and asked for Norman. One time they called and asked for Sherry." The listener is forced to share in Whitey Fong's pain, at having his privacy disturbed at regular intervals by people calling the wrong number and interrupting his domestic routine.
The lyrics on this record are consistently poetic. "Down with the Animals" provides an insightful commentary of urban human behaviour. The band write about farm animals as though they were humans, but whilst humanising animals and protesting against conditions in zoos, they viciously animalise the greed and ignorance of modern Man. "Make way for the vicious cougar, he's in the drive-thru ordering tacos and burgers for his friends at the cougar den." This is brilliant social commentary, and typical of the band's all-encompassing "Fuck Off and Die" political and social stance. In "I like Lo-Fi Recordings", Branca sings "I am a naked spaceman. I like to stand naked on the moon." Maybe, just maybe, there's some of his semen on the moon still intact, and they'll mistake it for alien dung, or something...
The band's shocking misanthropy continues apace in "You Know You're Fucked Up". Panda Nelson shouts "Everybody says the word 'fuck' these days, so it's okay, and you're really fucked up. You're a fuckin' dick too!" Ouch! The record ends on a happy note, with a song all about pussy. "Put plaque on my pussy? I'll put plaque on your pussy! Throw rocks at my pussy? I'll throw rocks at that pussy!" Truly universal stuff.
Of course, much of this record is a piece of shit. And the band doesn't even exist. Arm of Roger is a pseudonym for Grandaddy -"The Ham and its Lily" is the legendary fake album they originally sent to their record label instead of the Sophtware Slump. It has now been made available on Grandaddy's own record label, Sweat of the Alps, and it is very funny indeed. Even with the band playing their instruments very badly, and singing ridiculous lyrics in silly joke voices, there are some fascinating and beguiling noises made on this record. Some of it even sounds a little like Grandaddy. This piece of shit smells pretty good.
www.armofroger.com
posted by Matthew at 2:55 PM
