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Monday, 22 May 2006 06:03

I should have taken a hint from Naeem Juwan’s pseudonym, Spank Rock, that this would be a ridiculously ass-driven album, and that can be all right, yet the most disappointing aspect is its chauvinistic tone. Call me prudish, but a full album of sex positions and gratuitous images isn’t my idea of talent.

Throwing an underage house party soon and need to fill the fridge with PBR and have the next hawt album for the ladies (and fearless men) to dance to? Look no further for good times than Yoyoyoyoyo, the fresh album full of industrial sounds mixed to off beats and rapid lyrics.

Listening to this album and trying to find descriptive words for its sounds was akin to trying to describe a Chardonnay as “fruity.” Of course it is, but that doesn’t mean I know what it tastes like. Suffice to say there’s a bit of an Atari feel to it, with some likeable garbage sounds. (I know, that’s pathetic but it’s the best I can do. Next month I’m sticking to rock ’n’ roll.) Other people’s attempts to pinpoint sounds were more confusing than helpful (cavernous abstract eroto-rhyming???).

I guess I should admit my own ignorance to the world of hip-hop, yet I selected to review this album because I wanted to challenge myself to listen to something new. And Spank Rock Yoyoyoyoyo just piqued my interest, for its absurd yet austere values. I should have taken a hint from Naeem Juwan’s pseudonym, Spank Rock, that this would be a ridiculously ass-driven album, and that can be all right, yet the most disappointing aspect is its chauvinistic tone. Call me prudish, but a full album of sex positions and gratuitous images isn’t my idea of talent.

I tried to understand the context: A DJ from Baltimore is going to have a different viewpoint than a middle-class white girl in the Midwest who grew up on Pearl Jam and the Beatles. But my point is there’s no excuse for the explicit lyrics that repeat throughout this album. Write something compelling about an alpaca and you have my respect.

Despite my own morals and values, Yoyoyoyoyo has the two key ingredients for pop-prominence: it’s innovative and offensive. To me, they cancel each other out and just make something not worth throwing away, but not worth another word.

Purchase downloads for this artist at our BurnLounge.