Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

There is something a bit off-kilter about Constant Velocity, a trio from Bloomington, Illinois. Maybe it’s the tee-shirts; one guy wears a shirt proudly bearing the legend “Barista;” another’s pay homage to Mikhail Gorbachev, who so proudly played punching bag to Ronald Reagan’s strong right hook. Actually, though, it’s the music on MUTTONHEAD, their debut project, which seals the deal. Their guitar/bass/drum arrangements, played in a deliberately sloppy manner, belie a level of musical ability that the group occasionally permits to shine through, if only for a moment or three.  

That‘s not to say that Constant Velocity is a put-on; it‘s more of a wink and a nod to those who take the time to listen to this project a time or three, to appreciate how it veers from self-parody to clever turns of phrase. “From The McLean County Lockup” (love that title) puts one immediately in the mind of the third, self-titled, Velvet Underground release, without, perhaps, the self-conscious gravitas that informed so much of that disc. In its place is an even sloppier guitar riff than you would find on, perhaps, “Candy Says.” From there, MUTTONHEAD puts you in the mind of a ship at sea, tilting from one side to the next. “After 4” stops in mid-riff, rights itself, and l unges to a beery conclusion. There’s an occasional flourish --- “Kelly” is a country song about a woman who doesn’t like country or NASCAR and who is a bagger down at Kroger; the song is told from the point of view of a guy who is trying to get her into his trailer. “Disorder” catalogues a series of minute, out of place items among a person‘s possessions, a laundry list for someone with OCD (“There’s a dime in your penny jar/there’s a microscopic scratch on your car”) that gets under your skin. Anyone who has ever brought someone into their home who immediately straightens up their CD or book collection will relate to this track. The almost spoken-word vocal and (deliberately) sloppy musicianship belie the cleverness of this track, and quite honestly, everything else on MUTTONHEAD. “Truculent” is about a…truck, yeah, I think, though it’s more of a stream of consciousness tune that starts off being about a truck. Actually, it takes issue with a bumper sticker on the truck, and there’s a hilarious if rude refrain throughout. So…can you imagine a tongue in cheek cover of “Time” by Pink Floyd? I couldn’t either, but it’s on here. This is a song who, like everyone over the age of 40, has heard far too many times. Yet, if you didn’t know it was coming, you’d be about halfway through it before you had a clue as to what it was.

MUTTONHEAD is a fun pr oject, worth playing for friends who on repeated exposure will veer from a “what is this crap?” reaction to “hey, put that on again.” As will you. Recommended.