Customer Reviews

Interrobang

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So there's a naked guy on the cover. That's just for starters. The music on this CD cannot easily be put into a category or compared to another artist. Isn't that refreshing!? Funky, guitar-driven tunes are fun to listen to. But behind, or rather in front of it all, are witty, urbane, thoughtful (and thought-provoking) lyrics, about politics, philosophy, and all the evils of the world, sung with a smugness and "nyah-nyah-nyah I know better than you do" attitude that is both charmingly funny and challenging. I am amazed that you can understand George Hrab's lyrics when he has his tongue so firmly planted in his cheek. So, what's it really like? Well, it's got bits of Frank Zappa, in both the cynicism and the complexity of the music. David Byrne's quirkiness, some heavy jazz chops, maybe some alt-rock influences. Tom Waits and the Beat Poets are here. So is Phish. So is Motown. So is Mel Brooks. And, the bottom line is, you've got to love an album that has a song about squirrels and their relationship to your nuts! If you're not afraid to consider something new that might make you smile, and will require lots of listenings to get it all, then part with the bucks and buy this album! (The liner notes alone are worth it...)

OK, I gotta give credit to a guy who can make a song that rocks hard and has an especially infectious guitar riff, that is all about "Mission Impossible."

Hrab's album is kinda like a gateway drug to wierdness--just normal enough to be accessible, but just wierd enough for you to want more. Sure, he draws from Zappa and Talking Heads, but there's also elements of more mainstream bands like, The Police, The Knack, and Led Zepplin.

A couple of his songs, in fact, like "Out of My Mind" and "Barney's in the Vent," wouldn't be out of place somewhere in Top 20 radio-land.

My favorite track on the album is "Dissapointed." On its surface, it's just a song about being dissapointed (duh). But if you listen more closely, you start to peel away the layers and get the references in the song, and the full story starts to emerge. It's also really cool musically, with a Stairway-esque interlude in the middle.

Hrab also has a decidedly critical outlook on certain individuals and groups, and skewers some of them--dumb blondes, musicians who don't play live, and hypocrites--in certain songs. But even as he gets political, the songs remain musically lively and lyrically sharp. "She suffers from superlatives," the dumb-blonde bashing song, has some of the wittiest lyrics on the album.

Interrobang's an album you'll enjoy right out of the box, and it will also improve as you listen to it again and again.