Zykos
Comedy Horn
Post-Parlo
Poor production can destroy an album regardless of the quality of the songwriting. Zykos’ Comedy Horn fails precisely because of this. With virtually silenced bass and drums on many tracks, there is barely anything on the low end to support the prominent bouncy guitars and piano. This is by far the worst of Zykos. With the very ramshackle clatter of poorly mixed instruments, along with vocalist Mike Booher’s booze-soaked disillusioned pontifications, Paul Westerberg should be studying up on copyright (and lifestyle) infringement laws. Just listen to “Listening Pills” and tell me it doesn’t come directly from The Replacements’ “Here Comes a Regular.” It’s a spitting image I tell you. Surprisingly, I find myself coming around to the band’s ugliness of delivery and slavish homages. I can’t recommend the album because the production is awful, but I’ll give Zykos the benefit of the doubt and believe they sound much better live. Next time, though, they might want to lay off the 40s for a couple of weeks and buy themselves some time in a better studio.
Post-Parlo Records: http://www.postparlo.com/
