Emperor Penguin - Damn EP
(My Pal God)
Emperor Penguin is the brainchild of two guys: one is named Mel and the
other, Lazio. When Mel and Lazio feel like playing an Emperor Penguin show,
they get their friends Jack Flapjack, Nord 2000, and Ferrari to fill out the
rest of the lineup. This EP has the first recordings made with the live
lineup as well as two others done by Mel and Lazio. It starts off with
"Disco Party in the Castle of Love (Tonight)" which sounds something like
Brainiac if they hadn't rocked or had much dissonance, which I guess
means it's new wave dance music. With its catchy refrain (the title of
the song) being sung through a vocoder, this is the highlight of the EP.
The second song, "The Echoes of Pumford," is a live version of a song from
their album Shatter the Illusion of Integrity, Yeah!. It's a nice
instrumentatal that is a pleasant listen but fairly forgettable. The
second two songs take a dive for the worse. "Neighborhood Watch (We
Call Poilce)" falls on the dance-dub side of things. The drums and bass lock
into a groove while an electric piano meanders about. "Wizard Dude" achieves
a similar end and in a very similar manner (a keyboard playing melodies over
a steady drum beat). The live setup delivers the interesting tracks as they
teeter between a rock band and an electronic dance-groove act. The studio
setup brings the latter to the forefront which isn't exciting and hardly
enjoyable.
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