You know, in the course of doing my nightly "five from my ipod" posts, I haven't really covered a whole lot of COMEDY music. Namely, because I haven't had any Bo Burnham tracks come up yet. It's not like I don't have enough comedy music, it's just not been in the cards yet.
So today we're going to look at a recently released comedy album titled, Goldmark After Dark by Tony Goldmark On the internet, Goldmark is mostly known as "Some Jerk with a Camera", a reviewer of theme park attractions mostly focusing on Disney Parks and the like. His multi-part look at ABC sitcoms that had episodes set in Disney Land is hilarious, especially the Full House episode.
Now, this is not his first ever release. In 1996 he put out his first album, You Bug Me, at a fairly young age. It should be noted at this point that Goldmark comes from a musical family, his parents both having been founding members of the lit-nerd super group The Rock Bottom Remainders. From there he released two more albums, 2001's Masterpiece Weirder and 2004's Rage Against Mundane, both of which received some deal of popularity on well established comedy music program, the Dr. Demento Show. This latest album marks his first release in over 10 years, it on to the review; it was well worth the wait.
It starts out with a short called the "Abstinence Anthem", which goes in a completely different direction than what you might imagine, and then goes straight into "The Guy on TV's not Happy." A skewering a of TV inspired reactionaries, something he comes back to later, the song captures the essence of what's really funny about living in a period of time where the news is dominated by talking heads without sounding too bitter. Instead, the song takes almost a sympathetic light to those who find themselves in an abusive relationship with their window to the world.
Next, an ode to substance at heart of American interstate trade and progress. No, not gumption or sheer pluck. Drugs! "Not Dead", is sung by a trucker desperately trying to stay awake during a long haul, taking increasingly dicey chemicals into his body. Oh, and there's also some killer scatting on this track.
Remember when I said he'd revisit the subject of people that take their marching orders from TV? Yea, this one isn't quite as nice. "Everyone Else's Fault" is about an ego-maniacal psychopath that just knows in his heart that it's everyone else who's wrong, and not that he's the one with too many screws loose. Here's a good place for a Fox news joke, go write one yourself.
I'd be lying if I said I was totally comfortable with the next song, "Officer Down". See the joke is that he's Officer Down of the "special police". On one hand, I understand the humor here and it doesn't seem to be at the expense of people with down's syndrome. But it's also true that I've heard that same "dumb guy" voice impression used to harass kids with actual developmental disabilities on the playground. I'll leave it up to you to judge how you feel.
This next song is something completely different and completely welcome; a song skewering songs about "them women folk what did you wrong". "She'll Come Crawling Back" is about one of those guys that doesn't get the message about why women don't like him and just automatically assumes that it's their fault. Egomania is kind of a theme here. It's very well produced, like everything on this album, with some slick guitar riffs and an authentic honky tonk feel.
"The Road" is country song about..something. I had a hard time following it, but I couldn't stop laughing on my first listen so it must have worked.
The next song starts with another sketch featuring the Cartoon Raccoon Platoon, called "Burn". It's a cheery, upbeat, musical business proposal for something that I'm not going to spoil. Like The Road, there's no real theme more than a just being a series of funny and irreverent ideas in cute squeaky cartoon voices.
Another sandwiches this song, as Tony takes back his own album, by force leading into a Johnny Cash styled song about a jilted man. It's a damned good impression, and goes to logical extreme that most of those of break up songs would end up at if they went any further.
Next is an 80'S POWER ROCK SONG!! Specifically "Movie in a Movie" is the theme for a collaborative film called "All Critics Must Die", starring a number of popular internet critics including Goldmark himself. Just by the song alone, and the trailer released last year, I'm actually really excited for this one. How about that release date guys? Either way, if you like movies you'll find this song pretty funny.
Next is a song that should be close to your heart if you've ever seen, experienced, or been personally involved in LA traffic. "One Damn Lane" A genuinely wistful song about all the crap that goes wrong when just one damn lane is closed. You really begin to feel a great deal of...schadenfreude for those suckers in California.
SKJ, recorded in 2011, is funnier if you know what the hell "Victoria Jackson" is, and if you do; WOW. I don't think I've really heard such an effective musical putdown of modern far right politics focused specifically on one person before.
Oh wait, never mind, the next track is "Take Back America". It hits all the major notes, misinformation about the rest of the world, accusing everyone of being socialists, insane fringe beliefs about how medical institutions work, and the god given right to own a tank. The ending is also pretty clever too, but pay attention because it fades out and you might miss it if you aren't listening closely.
"Humility Tower" is the life story of a pastiche of Britney Spears and Sarah Palin, and like most life stories it goes on a bit too long for my taste. It's also the most obvious song with it's humor, and might not stimulate you quite like the rest of the album. Shame too, but it's really the only weak link here.
Next a down and dirty lounge song about a low down dirty man, "Curl Up and Die". A very simple exercise in snowballing, the song reaches some absurd places as it beats this guy up more and more going from being left by two women and eventually resulting in stuff about goblins. The best songs have goblins in them.
The album ends with "Ah vah" or "Asshole vs Asshole". Back to talking about the modern "talking head" culture, this song takes on a very different tone, less jokey and more genuinely concerned about the slow death of civil discourse. Goldmark here shows the real heart behind his work, a satire and wit motivated by the conscience of a thinking person. I think we can all sympathize with that.
Available now on his bandcamp page, https://tony-goldmark.bandcamp.com/ it is only 10 dollars and comes in a digipack with art by fellow critic Jack Shen, aka Count Jakula. It's probably the best comedy album I've heard from this year so far.
