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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Mel Gibson and the Pants: Like no other
Wednesday 14 February @ 16:29:50 |
  by NATHAN DEAN
One of the staples of lazy rock criticism has always been making easy comparisons to established figures. This is why a good 90 percent of mediocre record reviews tend to fall into the pattern of relying on convoluted phrases like "Neil-Young-meets-Brian-Wilson-at-a-dance-party-with-heavy-metal-overtones." That sentence was fun to write--it may even have been fun to read--but in terms of answering the fundamental question of what a band actually sounds like, it's essentially worthless. The real reason the cheap comparison is so prevalent, however, is that it sometimes feels necessary. Many casual music fans are only likely to check out something new if it's described in terms of something old that they feel they already have a handle on. Why am I going on and on about comparisons? Because local sextet Mel Gibson & the Pants, a hazy post-rock outfit fronted by a rapper, truly sounds like no other band. This makes them damn hard to write about.
"I think our strangeness is something that we've cultivated right on down from the band name all the way to the music we put out," claims rapid-fire rhymer and group front man Harold Sanders. "It's not intended to be like anything else."
And indeed it isn't. The group is about to unveil its third slab of auditory strangeness on the Twin Cities populace in the form of Sea vs. Shining Sea and, if anything, it's an even more whacked-out trip than its heavily skewed predecessors. The 10-track album kicks off with "Where It Hurts," an opening salvo that quickly establishes MG & the Pants' unique sonic template. Starting off with a low-end ambient keyboard gurgle, the track's brief moment of placidity is quickly blown apart by a propulsive drum pattern which is joined seconds later by a jagged electric guitar figure and the rubbery sing-song delivery of Sanders, a man whose anthems for the disaffected and disenfranchised flow so fast that the presence of a lyric booklet is a necessity to decipher his sharp wit.
Although discerning all the intricacies of Sanders' verbal torrent amidst the ever-busy textural mash-ups supplied by his crew is something of a challenge, he's clearly a man with a message (and thankfully, for the first time, the band has decided to print his lyrics in its album liner notes). As on previous albums, Sanders deftly weaves scathing social commentary with self-deprecating gallows humor, bringing a warmth and humanity to his lyrical politics that give them a shelf life more strident message-rap lacks ("I think Katrina was a wake up call / More proof they don't care at all / We late to up rise / But prompt to the mall / Money walks and justice crawl.").
 "The thing I do is always make sure that the lyrics are anchored in my life experience," explains Sanders of his approach to lyric writing. "I'm not telling other people, 'hey this is what you should be doing with your life.' Most of the time when I'm saying something, it's about myself. I try to make sure that it's not preachy by always putting myself into the song. If it's not something that I've experienced directly or really understand, then I'm just not going to talk about it in a song regardless of how strongly I feel because it wouldn't be true."
The musical backing behind Sanders' lyrical calls-to-arms ranges from the poppy robo-reggae bounce of "That Ain't A Knife" to the synthetic cut-and-paste strut of "Bit of a Buzz." Working with local engineering ace Joe Mabbott (The Plastic Constellations, Atmosphere), MG & the Pants once again construct a space for themselves that effectively straddles many different worlds of music (art-damaged indie-rock, backpacker hip-hop, electronic dance) bringing a number of notable Twin Cities musicians along for the ride (Mictlan, Dessa and Sims of Doomtree, Crescent Moon of Kill the Vultures and Jake Luck of Thunder in the Valley).
If there's any complaint that can be lobbed against the Pants' freewheeling method of operation it's that the songs' frequent sharp turns can cause listener whiplash, such as when the hypnotic musical backing on the opening verse in "Stress Fracture" completely drops out to be replaced by a series of effects-treated vocal shouts of "crush, kill, destroy," never to return again. Whereas most groups are content to find a solid groove and ride it, MG & the Pants let an attention-deficit-addled approach reign supreme. No hook or beat is above being messed with, a maverick spirit that yields largely dazzling results. Certainly, any band that feels comfortable letting the last eight minutes of their album consist of one high-pitched keyboard note leaves itself open to accusations of pretension. Fitting in is clearly not the group's priority.
"We have been doing this formula for years now so really it's not difficult for us to do what we do," says drummer Drew Christopherson. "We just play how we feel and it evolves and changes but we never worry about what style it is."
"When we first moved here and started playing shows, I didn't really know what to expect as far as a response," admits guitarist Riley Hartnett of the group's move from the college town of Eau Claire, Wisc., to Minneapolis in 2002. "We weren't sure if people would just think we were really too weird. But then getting asked to play with everyone from Sweet Jap and Chariots to Doomtree was amazing. I hoped that the scene would be open and varied and that definitely has proven to be the case."
Mel Gibson and the Pants play two CD release shows for Sea vs. Shining Sea on Sat., Feb. 17 at the 7th St. Entry. Both shows with the Belles of Skin City and Kill the Vultures. 5 p.m. $6. All Ages. 9 p.m. $6. 21+. 701 First Ave. N., Mpls. 612-333-1775. For more information on Mel Gibson and the Pants please visit the official website of their record label, Totally Gross National Product (totallygrossnationalproduct.com).
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