album of the week: 7.2

Does it Offend You, Yeah?

Don't Say We Didn't Warn You

(2011)

why you'll love it - big big energy, crunchy crunchy synths!

why you'll hate it - the pop songs are a bit dull, ignorant nonsense rock

Does it Offend You, Yeah? dug themselves a cozy little niche in 2008, with their debut You Have No Idea What You Are Getting Yourself Into. It was a big KFC family bowl of glitch, electrona, 80's synthpop, and hard rock. A little bit of Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem, Man or Astro-Man?, and Duran Duran; but nothing to carry personality or relevance of their own.

Being like an electronic Swiss Army Knife of spaz rock, is kind of their thing, and they're sticking with it on Don't Say We Didn't Warn You. Their threats are tongue-in-cheek, but certainly not empty. This is a louder, crunchier, more unpredictable collection of songs. They seemed to have streamlined the kitsch that made their 80's ballad type songs (like "Dawn of The Dead") so great on the debut, but the heavy artillery tracks have been upgraded. Some songs sound like tracks from the last album remixed, faxed, blended, and bolted back together. This is a good thing. "Yeah" kicks last album's "Weird Science" to the curb like old inferior hardware.

Most interesting in this release are the group's choice of samples. They really come out of nowhere. "Wrestler" is the most memorable song on here, due to its killer quote from a decade+ old documentary, Beyond The Mat. The use of this random youtube video makes "The Monkeys Are Coming" into one the wackiest songs I've heard all year. And that's tough to do in the company of a new Polysics release.

This is Pop Rocks. Stupid music made to appeal to the very root of your senses, if you enjoy electronic rock. There is nothing more too it. It's not even all that wildly abstract or challenging. It's just party music for strange people, and I'm totally cool with that. All they did was remake their first album (even down to the rotation of energy through the track list), but I'm cool with that too! Just keep those crazy pills coming.