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New Wet Kojak, "No. 4 EP"
A simple title for the most simple music New Wet Kojak have ever created. True, the sex is still in this rock, more libido than most records combined. But where is the substance?
Several of the tracks on this, their imaginatively titled fourth release feature band leader Scott McCloud saying "Number One" repeatedly, removing any hope of meaning. After a while it actually starts to sound a little ridiculous, particularly on "Year of the Sheep," where McCloud asks if he can be someone's "Number One Sheep," whatever the hell that means, because "I really like you a lot." Check the "no" box and send the note back to Scotty, please ladies. The grooves are still there, and this time spacey keyboards abound, adding an new but wholly uninteresting effect to their modus operandi. The horns, though, effects laden and faded into the mix more than usual, are still enough to anchor the sound and set the band apart. And McCloud is playing around with vocals more this time, sampling and repeating his own voice with different distortions and echoes. It's clear that this release is driven to tide fans over until their next full-length (one track is a remix of "love career" from "do things"), and it comes out being a release that only fans should own or would want to own. It's the weakest release from Kojak yet, as the band sounds like their struggling with a new sound or approach at it. Even "Sophia Loren," the tribute to her sexiness and staying power as a star, sounds forced and trite when compared to the power of their other work. I give this one a big old pass if you've never heard them, and a possible pass even if you're a fan. You'll spend more time laughing at it's weaknesses than enjoying this music.
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