James Kochalka Superstar
Spread Your Evil Wings And Fly
Rykodisc
By Greg Grits
James Kochalka is an acclaimed underground comic artist, best known for his award winning graphic novels Peanut Butter & Jerry’s Best Book Ever!, The Horrible Truth About Comics and his “American Elf” strip. What most people don’t know is that James Kochalka also makes records that are as bizarre and hilarious as his comics. On his fourth album, and first for Rykodisc, Kochalka is in rare form with laugh out loud songs about drugs, Britney Spears and other oddities.
The album’s first real song is the standout “Cocaine,” a song about Kochalka’s less than impressive superpowers that include punching strangers and “looking for a guy named Guy” and the source of his powers, a drug called Cocaine. The drug theme continues with “Stash In A Box,” a song that could be lifted straight from a children’s television show, except that the song is about woodland creatures pinching off of Kochalka’s hidden stash. Lyrics like “You took a toke from my private stash / and I’m gonna kick your fluffy ass” are just so ridiculous you have to laugh!
Kochalka gets a political on the track “This Is How We Rock In America,” which pokes fun at the overly patriotic songs that have been present in the last several years. Other than an ever so slightly more serious theme, the song doesn’t break the mood from the rest of the album. The repeated once too many times chorus and the amps all of the way guitar solo keeps the song above the fray..
The album’s most memorable track is also its longest, and that would be “Britney’s Silver Can.” The song is about Kochalka’s very distorted idea of what life is like for everyone’s favorite princess of pop. The first minute of the song describes Britney’s loneliness despite her “silver pants” and “drinking Pepsi from a silver can.” The next three minutes is simply Justin Timberlake’s name repeated, with backing vocals and harmonies added while the instrumentation builds to a crescendo, only to cut out as more harmonies and vocals come in. This three minutes of music goes from hilarious to incredibly annoying and then back to hilarious again.
Although the songs are incredibly simple, there’s a truly bizarre genius behind Spread Your Evil Wings and Fly. The songs are irreverent but are just so catchy that they stick with you and bubble up at the most inappropriate times. Warning; James Kochalka should not be held accountable for singing the chorus to “Cocaine” at inappropriate times.
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