Emperor Penguin - Mysterious Pony
(My Pal God)
Emperor Penguin are the sounds of Earth as heard in space, distorted and
fragmented, hard to comprehend without greater knowledge of where they came
from. I mean, it's easy to see why the aliens haven't really decided to visit
yet. Sure, they'll tractor beam up a couple rednecks for anal probes, but they
really haven't come down to just hang out with us. All they really
see of human culture is distorted wave fragments of runaway broadcasts
that themselves represent a distorted picture of life on Earth. I mean, if all
you had to judge life on Earth were grainy episodes of Three's Company and
crackly transmissions of "Superfreak" and "Funkytown" (not to mention the
rednecks you anal probe), would you really want to come over for an extended
visit?
These fractured and fragmented escaped transmissions comprise Emperor
Penguin. So inundated with low culture (aren't we all), the Penguin can't
resist the urge to just party, baby. Just party. And Emperor Penguin know how
to get a groove on. Each song has a strong, persistent drumbeat to carry their
slow jams and funky synthesizers. All that funk is covered with a ton of
nerdspeak like zany audio samples and pseudo-sexxxy catch phrases.
When it works, it works, and you can't resist the urge to party and at least
tap a toe along to the beat. "Chill or Be Chilled" with it sampled flute
melody and strings and irresistible bass line would sound fine in the middle
of a Mo' Wax compilation. And isn't the title track a long lost b-side to
Rockwell's one hit wonder, "Somebody's Watching Me?" If only it too had backing
vocals by Michael Jackson.
However, when it doesn't work, it can be tedious like the robot-voiced chorus of
"Makin' It" that repeats itself through more than half the 4 minute song
or the songs that recreate a little too authentically something off of Isaac
Hayes' latest collection of smooth makeouts.
In all, Emperor Penguin keeps the alien vs. terrestrial groove going throughout
most of Mysterious Pony. However, their world ends up being more of an
interesting place to view from afar; I'm a bit too scared to make an extended
visit.
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