We Are Fuck You/Punk's Dead Let's Fuck

Never mind the bollocks, ladies and gentlemen, because here come Ryan Adams and Jesse Malin! Yes indeed, strange as those words may sound, the alt-country rockers have recorded a punk parody double album which picks up exactly where a combination of Spinal Tap, Black Flag and Andrew WK might conceivably have left off.

The concept is bizarre enough, but the true surprise is that the record actually works. These super-short tunes are fresh, frantic barrages of noise that assail the senses with all the subtlety of a thunderstorm and wield much the same measure of power. Meaty hooks, frenetic drumming and sneaky, almost Nirvana-esque basslines are teamed with lyrics like, “Terror is my pleasure!” and “You’re too stupid to have fun!”. Okay, so it ain’t Radiohead, but it certainly is a whole load of getting-revved-up-to-go-out-for-the-evening fun.

While the first album is raw and vibrant, on the second, Punk’s Dead Let’s Fuck, Adams and his bandmates make the very unpunk mistake of proving that they can actually play their instruments. The mix still works, but the songs are discernibly fuller and more considered, less gimmicky in their charms. Where once the parody was obvious, now the picture becomes slightly confused. How seriously do The Finger want to be taken? The album titles, lyrics and pseudonyms (Warren Peace, anyone?) all scream caricature, but the music regularly belies this supposed intent.

That said, on a record so chock-a-block with coruscating vitality, perhaps this peculiar brand of genre blending hardly matters. Adams, Malin and their two unnamed friends aim to deliver short sharp shocks to the system, and they have managed this feat in considerable style.
Gloriously spiky good fun.