Album Notes

Excrement Weather, the second album from Louisville, Ky.'s, the Uncommon Houseflies, is the kind of album you want playing on your car stereo if you're on a first date -- with Jack Black. Sporting punk, indie rock, power-pop and even alt-country influences, the Houseflies blend parodies, off-the-wall characters and bizarre stories to create an album that sounds like the Ramones beating up a clown. Or Tenacious D fronting Fountains of Wayne on a bender.

Power-pop like the quirky "Na Na (Where's the Spatula?)" and the tongue-in-cheek title track blend easily with the stories and characters in the darkly funny tracks "Supermarket Sushi" and "Nick the Carnivorous Pony," and sometimes give way to parody such as the 1950s-esque prom theme from hell, "Pink Party Vomit." Meanwhile, songs like the catchy and startlingly funny "Cotton Candy in the Rain" and "Idiots in Love" fill out an album that will keep you guessing as well as tapping your toes and singing along to the unending hooks and pop melodies.

A band that is built on pure fun had to release an album like this one; this is a rock 'n' roll quartet that not only has been played on the nationally-syndicated Dr. Demento Show, but which also once served thirty pounds of free bacon to its fans at a live show. Excrement Weather reflects that spirit pretty accurately, and comes with a free slice of bacon pre-packaged with every CD.

OK, not really. That would be stupid.