Lazlo Bane
11 Transistor (Almo Sounds)
by Sheril Stanford
With the exception of a couple of tracks, Lazlo Bane‘s 11 Transistor is a collection of musical monkeyshines, korn-y life-is-peachy, everything-is-hunky-dory, happy-bunny, things -look -sunny, THIS- far- away -from -geek-schtick, scurvy, snappy, scrappy slop pop. The song that first got attention for Boston based Lazlo Bane (attention from LA’s KROQ, no less) is “I’ll Do Everything,” which features a classic indie rock intro with discordant guitars giving way to feedback and crashing power chords. But when the vocals come in, it’s straight to Weezer-ville: “I bought myself one of those late night machines, it’ll slice your life to pieces, then it will glue it back again…”. The tune also visits Mayberry, with whistling of the “Aww, Aint Bee,” “Now, Opie, do what Aint Bee says!” variety. A truly outstanding track is a cover of Men at Work’s “Overkill” (the one that goes, “I can’t get to sleep, thinking ’bout the complications, of diving in too deep…). Lead Man at Work, Colin Hay, contributes his vocals on the last verse. Kinda makes you think, Hey, that was a great song! “1975” is another catchy number with vocals reminiscent of Van Morrison, back when he was fun, you know, before he found god. The chorus goes like this: “It was 1975, when the Red Sox were on fire, my brother got the Joe G.I., over the holidays…” With its unlikely cheerless melody and melancholy lyrics, “Flea Market Girl” is one of the few dark songs on the disc, delivered acoustic style.