slippery when moist (no one buys records)
I had never heard of Garfunkel And Oates until 2 days ago. I stumbled across them when my eye was drawn towards their magnificent album name, which justified having a quick listen. A "quick listen" escalated into an full album listen, followed by a previous full album listen, a youtube search, facebook "like" and an album review. I might even go and buy the merchandise.
Garfunkel & Oates is a comedy duo comprised of actresses Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome. I immediately recognised Micucci from US comedy Scrubs, but had to do a little more research on Lindhome. It turns out that she has appeared in a handful of films, including Million Dollar Baby, My Best Friends Girl and Last House On The Left, after earning her first big break on Tim Robbins' film Embedded.
Slippery When Moist is the duos second album, after 2009's Music Songs. It is an album of comedy songs with subjects ranging from accidentally masturbating due to the vibrations on a go-kart through to dissecting a ewe. It is quirky, light hearted, adult-themed and very funny. Upon listening to the album, my first comparison was to Avenue Q, a comedy musical which boasts hilarious songs such as The Internet is for Porn.
Sex, awkwardness and social situations are common themes running throughout the album which is a great source of comedy as people can relate to what they are hearing whilst the bright, jangly sounds of a ukelele, acoustic guitar and glockenspiel make it easy to tap your foot and sing along to. Go Kart Racing is instantly memorable, and the fact that I am listening to two innocent, angelic sounding voices singing about masturbation makes it funnier - they even finish with a harmonious "Amen".
"Go kart racing, accidentally masturbating
Go kart racing, mechanically self-fornicating
Go kart racing, no stopping til I cross the finish line"
See? That's clever. Excellent use of innuendo there, and don't worry, there is plenty more where that came from (that's what she said)
I Don't Know Who You Are is about an awkward conversation with someone who appears to know who you are, yet you cannot recognise them. I'm sure that this happens all over the world, that people who's "overwhelmning averageness is such a drag" that they fail to stand out. Hmm, maybe I'll tattoo my face..
Handjob, Blandjob, I don't Understand Job and The Ex-Boyfriend Song are titles that do not disappoint. The latter being only 7 seconds long, with the line "I fucking hate you, you fucking liar". Epic sounding parody song Save The Rich is available below, is a sarcastic look at the current economic crisis.
I Would Never (Have Sex With You) and Silver Lining were on the duo's previous album so I feel like I've been cheated a little bit. Their only saving grace is that they too, like the rest, are great songs so I don't mind.
Google is a song that sounds like an 80's ballad - goodbye ukelele, hello cheesy electric piano. It has a lot of truth behind it - that people's privacy is almost non-existent, due to social networking.
"Everybody Googles each other,
Everybody does their Facebook research.
It's how we get to know one another,
To make sure that we don't get raped."
It is truly a difficult art to write songs that are engaging, memorable and funny. I think Steven Lynch writes some brilliantly funny songs, and these two are right up there. Their choice of song topics are very good, instrumentation is endearing and vocal ability is top-notch. Oooh, I do like a good harmony... So go and listen to this album and prepare to hear some disgusting lines, and thoughts that we all might think but are too polite to say. There really isn't a weak song here.
10/10