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Caesar Pink and the Imperial Orgy
Gospel Hymns for Agnostics and Atheists
Chief Logan Records
June 2007
www.imperialorgymusic.com

With a churning chorus of hymnal skronk and funk guitar (reminiscent of John Frusciante’s first stint with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in the late eighties), Cesar Pink and the Imperial Orgy definitely lay out a redemptive blast of morphing rock religion.

Less concerned with debunking or rebuking specific belief-systems, the band works its way deep into stage theatrics and aural hallucinations: listening to this brief slab of spazzy tunes immediately brings to mind washed-out footage of Kid Creole and the Coconuts embellishing in their pre-digital ersatz disco bacchanal kitsch.

Gospel Hymns kicks into high gear immediately with the Cramps-like stuttering guitar-centric thrill of “The Amazing Tenacity of Job & His Brethren” which makes as much use of sample snippets as a pounding baseline as Caesar Pink froths out lines like, “Drug me with your video screens, S&M scenes and altered genes.”

“So It Is” swells and sways, relaxed in its druggy, haggard haze and constant poetic come-ons of “zebra flesh” and “bluejay whispers.” “Happy Endings” plunders the Lou Reed handbook but emerges feeling more akin to John Melloncamp. And while the narratives of Lisa (a schoolgirl who never wore a prom dress) and Jimmy (who drove a Nova) feel well beyond played-out, it’s nigh impossible to suppress the slinky sensuality of Caesar Pink and his disciples.

Favorite Track: “In Praise of Shadows”

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Christopher j Ewing is a writer and filmmaker living in San Francisco with a girl and a designer dog (Chihuahua vs. dachshund). He is in a band by himself and has a myspace account (www.myspace.com/slapbraceletskill) and a production company (www.wastepot.com) for freelance film and crit/journo work.

 
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