Ska/punk band Mustard
Plug feeds fans
Mustard Plug
Pray for Mojo
Hopeless Records
** 1/2
By Rattaya Nimibutr
Daily Cougar Staff
The ska/punk scene has dwindled down to
the level at which it was before it got hot. On the positive side, though,
faithful music fans are still attending show after show at Fitzgerald's
for a taste of ska and punk.
The music scene continues, and ska bands
will keep on blasting and producing more albums. The only risk they will
take is whether they will be remembered for their names instead of their
horns.
Bands like No Doubt never actually left,
while many ska bands did. No Doubt, however, has recently joined rock territory
to the point where some think they have betrayed the ska sound that brought
them to fame.
Along comes a band like Mustard Plug, though,
and all Fitz goers can join hand-in-hand again. They smile and move their
feet when Mustard Plug is mentioned.
And now? They should smile bigger, because
these mustardy guys are releasing their newest album, Pray for Mojo.
Lori Ann Budzynski/Hopeless
Records
Ska/punk band
Mustard Plug is releasing its third album, Pray For Mojo.
So is it any good? The more important question
is: Does it really matter? Ska fans are often hungry for more sounds, which
is simply what these guys offer. As long as they can rock the upstairs
of Fitz, Mustard Plug may just as well be saving the world.
The six members of the band have conjured
up 12 tracks of energized, fear-nothing, adrenaline-fueled songs. They
boil all the flowing juices in their bodies and, while this new album (their
third since their 1993 debut Big Daddy Multitude) is mediocre, they
can undoubtedly be a great live band.
Evildoers Beware was the band's
second and most successful album. With this less impressive third installment,
the six guys may just have to work a little harder on their live shows
to impress.
To step aside from the Fitz fans and their
demand for noise, Pray for Mojo shows that Mustard Plug has great
potential. Not only can the band rock the house, it offers a way to fully
showcase the members' talents. Unfortunately, though, the songs offered
on this album are much too repetitive.
Yes, ska can have variation. But this band's
main weakness is that the lyrics sometimes upstage the music.
"Send You Back" starts off the album. The
band immediately goes into full swing, and its batteries keep on going
and going and going.
Track seven, "Lolita," has some quickly
forgettable lyrics. The band plays around with the sounds rather well,
but does not offer a whole grip to its intentions. This also happens in
"Everything Girl."
"Yesterday" stands out more than other
songs. The lyrics and the sounds give the listener a fair chance to enjoy
the song entirely without being too rushed. Most of the time Mustard Plug
tries to stay within the ska range and therefore tends to lose a strong
base.
"Not Giving In" sounds too much like any
other track. "Mend Your Ways" is similarly blasé, but a little more
creative. "Away From Here" isn't anything new either, but a full, energized
set doesn't falter in "Time Will Come."
Mustard Plug is good at what they do, but
they need to focus on the music more than the demand of the ska scene.
Pray
for Mojo isn't bad, but it surely needs work.
