Tiny Masters of Today: Skeletons

[rating=3.00]

If this were the late 80’s/early 90’s, MTV still mattered an played videos while having a Buzz Bin, then “Skeletons”, the title track off of Tiny Masters of Today new album, would have been a huge hit.  I could see it played in-between “Push th’ Little Daisies” from Ween and “Pepper” by the Butthole Surfers, it is catchy, kooky and kitschy.  Today we have a much more decentralized market, but it doesn’t change the fact that the song works on a lot of levels, as do a few other tracks on the album.  When the T.M.o.T sticks to their lo-fi/punky/surfy/bubblegum shimmy they flat out jam as on “Abercrombie Zombie”, “Monkey In The Middle” and “Pop Chart” (which sounds more like “Up Chuck” to these ears…nice work).  These songs pump, shake and get caught in the brain, but when the group ventures into pseudo disco dance tunes (“Big Stick”, “Big Bass Drum”) they falter and could use a little guidance and seasoning. 

 Ah seasoning, now here it comes; Tiny Masters of Today are kids, we are talking Junior High School here, and when put in that context you can’t helped but be impressed.  Seasoning is all they have coming to them, so it is exciting that the group have talent to go along with fresh faced honesty.  The album reminds me of early Donna’s and Breeders with fuzzy production over surprisingly potent drums and strums.  It is far from perfect; the vocals need to at least change up the delivery every now and then to keep the listener engaged and the dance-y tracks should gain some swagger when they are old enough, you know, to actually get into clubs these songs will likely be played in this summer.  But back to that title track for a second, anyway you slice it, “Skeletons” is a hit in waiting, and since I mentioned them, this tune is better then anything off the most recent Breeders album so in that sense these young’ins have all ready arrived, as long as they can deal with the horrors of (*GASP*) High School!

Skeletons – Tiny Masters Of Today