rancid1993's Full Review: Sharpen Your Teeth by Ugly Casanova
Isaac Brock is one of the most unique personalities in the music world today. When watching one of the few interviews with Isaac or one of their live performances, it's not hard to see that he has a bit of a spark of insanity to him. This isn't a bad thing at all, as he writes some of the most amazing lyrics and music that I've ever heard. Most will be familiar of his usual role as frontman of Modest Mouse, but few have heard of his side "solo" project Ugly Casanova, and the album Sharpen Your Teeth.
The story behind this "band" is pretty interesting as well. Supposedly, a man named Edgar Graham impressed himself upon Modest Mouse backstage during a concert in Denver. Isaac and Edgar supposedly recorded a few songs, but soon after, Edgar vanished never to be seen again. This has later been proved to be a bit of a fairy tale created by Isaac for him to avoid doing interviews and such. On that base, this album is recorded by Isaac Brock, with Tim Rutili, Pall Jenkins, and Brian Deck of Califone, Black Heart Procession, and Red Red Meat, respectively. The member of the band that really completes the package is vocalist John Orth, whom usually plays in Florida based band Holopaw. His frail, gentle vocals provide the perfect foil for Brock's rough, growly sound.
It's pretty hard to describe either Modest Mouse's or Ugly Casanova's sound in words, but know that they're pretty different from one another. I think listeners that pop Sharpen Your Teeth in their CD player and expect another Modest Mouse album will be disappointed. Brock and company cover quite a bit of musical ground and styles in the 13 songs and nearly 50 minutes of music contained on this album.
The opening track of Barnacles is a perfect example of the stripped down sound and production of this album. The unmistakable Brock-ish lyric of "we clung on like, barnacles on a boat, even though the ship sinks you know you can't let go". Overall, this is an excellent opening track. The next two, however, are not really my cup of tea. In fact, contrary to the vast majority of albums out there, I think the second half of Sharpen Your Teeth is much stronger than the first half. However, the number 4 track, Hotcha Girls, is quite possibly the finest track this CD has to offer. The abstract-yet-somewhat-clear lyrics of "Smells like autumn, smells like leaves; you don't know that you'll rust and not belong so much and then get left alone. Suck it up, take a ride and take a walk and don't you know that old folks' homes smell so much like my own." combined with perfect vocals from Brock and Orth make this song nearly perfect.
After a rather useless instrumental filler, you get to hear one of the more bizarre songs and one of the more bizarre titles of the album in Diamonds on the Face of Evil. The guitar, banjo combo in the background is awesome and mesmerizing, but the vocal approach is interesting to say the least. After each verse is the odd chant of shaw-shaw-shaw-shaw, with each alternate verse being shouted through a bullhorn. There really is no shortage of excellent songs down the stretch of this album - it's one of the few that I think is stronger at the end than at the beginning. Cat Faces, Pacifico, and Thing I Don't Remember are excellent tracks that can be found toward the end of the album. Pacifico in particular has some of my favorite lyrics in: "They said they'd give me everything, Here's the part that made me laugh. They didn't give me anything And then they took half of that. Sharpen your teeth or lay flat! You said you'd play clean, oh what a load of crap, By the time that you were through with me I had to take a bath Sharpen your teeth or lay flat! They said that it'd go good for me, Rain diamonds and all that. I stood out in the downpour Getting hit by broken glass." Another interesting track is Smoke Like Ribbons, which has a very country/western sound, complete with banjos and mainly Orth providing vocals. Also enjoyable for me was the long, twangy outro.
Not every idea conceived on Sharpen Your Teeth is a winner, though. Ice on the Sheets is amusing, with its use of the bullhorn and structured patterns, but at over 6 minutes it overstays its welcome. Also, though popular among most of the reviewers that have written about Sharpen Your Teeth, I've never really liked the closing track, So Long to the Holidays. It's very repetitive and never blossoms from a bud into an interesting song. It's almost six minutes of what could have been.
Final Thoughts
Sharpen Your Teeth by Ugly Casanova is a very good, experimental record that covers a lot of ground musically wise. It's quite a bit different from Modest Mouse or Holopaw (the two band member's other works I've heard), so anyone expecting another MM record with different band members is certain to be disappointed. However, if you go into it with an open mind and without expectations, you'll find this is an excellent work of music.
Barnacles - **** Spilled Milk Factory - *** Parasites - *** Hotcha Girls - ***** (No Song) - ** Diamonds on the Face of Evil - **** Cat Faces - ***** Ice on the Sheets - *** Beesting - *** Pacifico - ***** Smoke Like Ribbons - **** Things I Don't Remember - ***** So Long To The Holidays - ***
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