Marc Levy
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Was it good for you? It was good for them
The Steamy Bohemians album is a bit frustrating, but in all the best ways. For instance, anyone who sees the Bohemians perform and has been, well, seduced by their wit, tunefulness and brash sexiness will appreciate the chance to have access to them 24 hours a day. But that access, via their “Technicolor Radio” CD, doesn’t give you the Bohemians themselves to leer over, and — for all the time they agonized over the production of the album — it’s impossible not to want a little more from it.
There are seven songs, an overture and three skits (can we still use the word “skits,” or is that too junior high?), and some of it is laugh-aloud funny. The best stretch is from an ad for “Mini Kittens” that clocks in at a perfect 42 seconds, allowing for multiple replays, leading into the “Ballad of the Bastard” and running through “My Love for You (the Mayonnaise Song),” which gives increasingly ludicrous metaphors for love, even “My love for you is like a credit card” and “My love for you is like a traffic light.” (“You can go on green, but on red you can only take a right.” Then there’s the sound of a mildly disapproving “Hm.” Awesome silliness.)
That’s a pretty good stretch.
It is in these songs that you get the best interplay and interjections between Bohemians Lainey Schulbaum and Niki Luparelli. Imagine, if you will, a sexier Janeane Garofalo and a funnier Virginia Madsen performing the roles of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby in a “Road” movie with songs and quips about incest and anal sex.
Rationally, you know it would be tedious for the Bohemians to banter during each song as they do in “My Love for You,” but it’s so delicious that it’s hard to keep that reality in mind.
The Bohemians trade lines between virtually each line of that song, riffing off what’s just been sung, showing off for each other in hilariously sophomoric quips to which the other, unfailingly, responds with pleased disapproval. In other words, part of the shtick is that one is always shaking her head at the other in playful disappointment and trying to top her, often in crude entendre, the next time around. The repartee is perfect.
Some of the songs don’t have it, though, and so some of the jokes sound less winking and just a wee bit dumb. There are too few cues in “The Less You Talk” to let the listener know that the Bohemians know how stupid some of the lyrics are, especially coming off a clichéd line such as “I’m not looking for Mr. Right tonight.” They harmonize that “We can do it in your Monte Carlo / Just ’cause I’m easy doesn’t mean my standards are low / It’s just my need for speed,” lines that are worth a shrug rather than a guffaw, but Lainey caps it with a big “VROOM,” and there’s a random meow that just makes the listener’s heart sink.
Then they recover with a brilliantly absurd bit of comedy acting, in which Niki does a diva turn on the lines, “I think I hate you / I’d masturbate you,” to which Lainey gives a wryly confused, “Really?”
“I meant me,” Niki sings apologetically, and the chicken clucking that comes soon after is as appropriate and perfect as the earlier catcall was out of place and wrong. In all, the song feels rushed and erratic — a perfect encapsulation of an album with such highs and such comparative disappointments. Like all burlesque queens, and dominatrices, the Bohemians tease you into expecting total satisfaction and leave you wanting more.
The album, in fact, ends with about 20 minutes of outtakes, which incites a feeling of mild outrage. It’s impossible not to wish the duo had instead put more energy into more songs, or rethinking some of their stage songs for recording (“Everybody sign our mailing list” is unquestionably a funny line in “Sorry I Made Out with Your Girlfriend,” but only if you grant that the Bohemians usually sing the song on stage; there’s really no excuse for putting it on a studio CD).
Still, even the lesser songs are funny and accomplished. “Is That Okay” may be obvious, but it’s wonderfully done and a pitch-perfect parody of the oozing dreck that tops the charts of modern contemporary radio.
Whatever the flaws of “Technicolor Radio,” gems as “My Love for You” make them all forgivable, if not forgotten. It’s even possible to take the disappointments as a lesson: It’s very nice if it was good for you, but the Bohemians have to get their pleasure first and best, and they certainly sound like they’re having a wonderful time.
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Phil McNamara
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Now for something completely different
Now for something completely different, we have a couple of local girls putting on a song and dance that are influenced by vaudeville, stand up comedy, Tenacious D, and Sesame Street…and yes, you distinctly hear all of those influences on the CD. The opener "Technicolor Overture" starts with an orchestra part befitting of a Christmas musical and brings up another key influence, The Simpsons. The orchestral opening sounds like something Danny Elfman could have
written and Bohemians Lainey and Niki can get as crude as Bart and Homer. After they sing some angelic "La, la, las" they sing about some boorish conservative guy that they want to sleep with, throwing in the line, "Just shut up and we'll do it." By "Sorry I Made Out with your Girlfriend" the vocals are starting to remind me of She's Busy, although I can't remember any of their songs sounding like this.
Further up in the CD are a couple of hit or miss comedy skits. "Salvira" kind of misses while "Mini Kittens" is pretty funny. In between they come up with something truly amusing. "God Wants Bush to Be President" could be a sad liberal rant but instead has some funny lines like,
"Bush had lost the literate vote to that [demon-crat] fiend
Black people wanted to vote, but God intervened"
This is all sung with angelic choir voices, making it all the more amusing. "Bastard Child" amuses with a build up like a scene out of Grease. Over piano and violin orchestration, Niki comes up with the most surreal and nonsensical rhymes about being a bastard. It's pretty
funny stuff all right. "Happy Snake" and "My Love for You (The Mayonnaise Song)"keep it funny and as for steamy…well I suppose if you stop laughing long enough, you could get aroused by this. The music to "My Love for You" is catchy as Lainey chimes in on guitar and comes up with the best appropriation of Jimi Hendrix's "Third Stone from the
Sun" since Right Said Fred. They end the album with the taboo love saga of "Second Cousin." I would've ended it with something stronger, but hey, it's their record.
Oddly enough, one of my favorite parts of the album is the hidden track, composed of chopped up outtakes from the sessions separated by the sound of switching radio stations, similar to the effect of Robot Chicken. In between those skits there's burlesque show music, lots of snorting and giggling, and of course the sound of bong hits. You
didn't think that they thought this up over cups of tea, did you? It's revealing to hear how much fun Lainey and Niki had making this stuff up.
When it's all said and done, I could stand to hear it again. They're funny. How funny? As funny as Tenacious D? Maybe not that funny. When I hear "Sorry I Made Out with your Girlfriend" or "The Mayonnaise Song" I think of hits like "I'm Sorry your Cat Has Ass Cancer" and "I Put a Baby in You." That's right, it's a comparison both complimentary
and insulting. They sound like Robby Roadsteamer. Actually, they sound like She's Busy, singing Robby Roadsteamer songs…over a Sesame Street soundtrack. That's a description that both encourages and warns.
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Timmy Mac
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Equally hilarious and accomplished.
I picked up this CD at the release party, and it's been on my iPod ever since. The level of musicianship on this record is so far above the level usually found on comedy CDs that it's flabbergasting. The songs are hilarious - ribald, raunchy, and fun - but the music is what'll bring you back for repeated listening. Just a great, funny record from beginning to end. If you ever get to see the Steamies live, I highly recommend that, too.
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Lexi Kahn, The Noise Magazine
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A hilarious joyride
The first thing you need to know is that The Steamy Bohemians are melodious, harmonious, and bright comedians who obviously smoke a metric assload of pot. The other thing you need to know is that Technicolor Radio is a novelty record featuring eleven ballsy tracks structured to sound like you’re tuning your radio and only finding good reception for Dr. Demento, Judy Tenuta, some sort of X-rated version of The Magic Garden, and Bette Midler circa Mud Will Be Flung Tonight. There are even bawdy commercials, fuzz and static to complete the radio-listening experience. Purveyors of bouncy, tuneful and raunchy songs sung in sweet, high choirgirl style, the Steamies take you on a hilarious joyride rife with lesbian in-jokes, sex, politics, and chickens. Yes, chickens. It’s an entertaining listen through all eleven tracks. (I could, however, do without the nearly eighteen minutes of outtakes and static at the end; it sounds like a production decision that might have been side-splitting in the studio, but it’s more of a “guess you had to be there” hilarity that detracts from the front half of the record.) All told, it’s a fabulous original CD from a sexy, funny act.
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Benari
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A steamy cup full of awesome
It ain't easy being sexy and goofy at the same time, but these remarkable ladies manage to do it...with style and wit. The music is catchy, the lyrics are clever, and the humor is infectious. A gem of a CD, this is top notch entertainment - a splendid addition to any iPod library.
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Northeast Performer Magazine
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Sex, silliness, and musical talent
Technicolor Radio begins with a flourish. Spectacularly cheesy trumpets and canned strings sound off, resulting in a regal fanfare. At some point in this overture, angelic voices begin to sing on high. The fanfare continues and the angels get closer, gradually alighting in the foreground. Then suddenly, they belch and start searching their robe pockets for a lighter. The cherubs are Nicole Luparelli and Lainey Schulbaum, more familiarly known as The Steamy Bohemians.
Luparelli and Schulbaum have charmed, offended, shocked and aroused live audiences; their challenge has always been bringing this spontaneous live energy into a recorded format without sounding canned or planned. The chemistry between the two dolled-up artists is easy and natural, and they harmonize like a sexier, foulmouthed, female version of Simon and Garfunkel, while tossing in little ad lib asides.
The thing about Technicolor Radio is that The Steamy Bohemians aren't all sex and silliness - both women are talented musical performers. The duo has enough of a musical handle on things to mimic and lampoon overdone formulas, as they do in the '80s style ballad "Is That Okay?" The song takes a turn from the sappy "I want to get to know you" sentiment to the criminally actionable "You've got a pretty voice, so I tapped your phone" (both actual lyrics). The group's caricature of the genre presents sufficient performance value, but it is in their original songwriting that The Steamy Bohemians really shine as performers. Steamy originals, such as the semi-incestuous "Second Cousin," lace this record with personality. The magnum opus of the collection is the humorously melodramatic "Ballad of the Bastard." The record closes with four tracks worth of Steamy outtakes, in which the women screw up lyrics, laugh in the middle of songs, create odd chicken sound effects and even light a mysterious substance on fire. This behavior just helps to make things funnier. Technicolor Radio is not for those who desire serious and earnest music, but for those who want a little fun in the back of The Steamy Bohemians' classy ride. -C.D. Di Guardia
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Lowbudget Superhero
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Off-the-wall schlock anchored by seriously kick-ass musicians
Technicolor Radio is the debut release from Boston-based duo The Steamy Bohemians (I’m A Kitty Records). On these eleven tracks, Lainey and Niki, cheekily described in a recent press clip as “everyone’s favorite dye jobs,” employ massive comedic brawn to bring the listener on a raunchy and delightful joyride. File this one next to Steve Martin, Judy Tenuta and Bette Midler circa Mud Will Be Flung Tonight.
Musically, the Steamies are purveyors of bouncey tunes sung in the clear high tones of choirgirls, something like twee pop or children’s music — except of course for the sex, incest and weed jokes.
Part of the fun is that Technicolor Radio is arranged to sound like you’re tuning your radio, complete with fuzz, static and commercials between songs. The artfully lesbo-riffic “Sorry I Made Out With Your Girlfriend” is followed by an ad for a natural drymouth cure made from real saliva. A pitch for a new breed of specially engineered tiny kitten is sandwiched between the not-so-subtle anthem “God Wants Bush To Be President” and “Ballad of the Bastard.”
Thankfully, the musical nature of these songs isn’t sacrificed for the sake of lyrical comedy; the instruments are well-played, the songs are well-sung, smartly arranged and expertly produced. The intra-song banter is either totally improvised, or very well-acted. This puts The Steamy Bohemians in the same “music meets comedy” category as fellow Boston acts Robby Roadsteamer and Larry Banilow, both off-the-wall schlock anchored by seriously kick-ass musicians.
The radio-dial concept of Technicolor Radio makes this a true “album,” as it is best enjoyed all the way through. If I had to select a single, it would be “Second Cousin,” a plaintive, swinging school girl torch song that takes a hard left turn when the object of affection is discovered to be a relative. Ouch. (Lexi Kahn)
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