It's Fun to Steal
Merriam Websterdefines kitsch as "sentimental, often pretentious bad taste, especially in the arts," but there's a certain sincerity and refreshing absence of hypocrisy in the current, decidedly kitschy "lounge music" revival that at least partially explains the genre's appeal to a modern audience. Mono Puff's John Flansburgh, formerly one half of mid-'80s geek-rock band They Might Be Giants, seems willing to embrace the theory, anyway, as his band gleefully tears into the material onIt's Fun to Stealwith a goofy, unaffected eclecticism. The absurdity is rampant, with songs about dashikis and bomb making, funk jams that rhyme "New York City" with "extra crispy," or a monotone voice saying "this song is called creepy" in a song called "Creepy," just for redundancy's sake. Mono Puff succeed in takingWebster's "pretension" out of the kitsch equation, and grab onto a silly vibe that may just continue the revitalized popularity of piano bars and questionable clothing decisions into the third millennium.--Matthew Cooke