Ball My Children
(Self-released)
(out of 5)

It should surprise no one that this Seattle band shares a name with a low-budget X- rated movie (actual film quote: "Mayor Gridley has received a note claiming the city's water supply has been contaminated with Spanish fly—a very powerful aphrodisiac. The note promised that half the town will fuck itself to a standstill by midnight"). Genital Hospital the band (who also go by "Gays of Our Lives") are obviously consummate purveyors of pun. Though a pun can be funny for oh, say, about one minute 37 seconds, it's never enough to carry anything successfully for much longer. There's also gotta be some kind of substance, or the film (or band) will just fuck itself to a standstill. That's where Genital Hospital's Ball My Children succeeds. The band channels eccentrics like the Meat Puppets, Scratch Acid, and the Minutemen—three pioneering acts that melded solid rock music and acting like fucking weirdos exceptionally well. GH's "Man in the Boat" is a perfect example of how cockeyed singing paired with erratic guitar can actually make sense. You can also go to Bandcamp.com to get the Ball My Children EP for only $4—that makes good cents, too (Ha-ha! Ha?).