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P.I.C. likes to describe their sound as "hiphopunkfunkmamboska"
which is a jumbled up description of their musical influences.
Pretty clever, but what else would you expect from a group that
was formed from a group of NYU art students. P.I.C. originally
started life as p.i., short for Pilipino Insurrecto, the
imaginary rap group that a NYU film school mocumentary was based
on. As part of shooting for the film the p.i. crew would play
live shows around New York, and they quickly found that p.i. had
a following of fans. p.i. changed their name to P.I.C and have
been playing and touring ever since. If you think that the name
P.I.C seems pretty familiar you may also be a Comedy Central fan.
P.I.C was the house band for Comedy Central's 2002 stand-up comic
variety show Premium Blend. With two albums, national T.V. exposure,
and a claimed worldwide audience, P.I.C seems to have come a long
way from being a joke rap group, or so you might think.
P.I.C.'s latest album is Sexy Picnic. I have had this
album in my player for a while now (it has been out for a year),
and I am still finding it difficult to write a review. I have
decided that this is not a fault of the reviewer, but it is the
carefully crafted plot of the band. The band started off as a
joke, and I really do not think that they have plans of changing
course. For example just look at the band's own description of
track five, "Ghoti"-"Vocals muse about George Bernard
Shaw's alternative phonetics in true tongue twisting style, driven
by a New Orleans dance hall beat and Latin counter rhythms. The
band's bipolar nature jumps from big Tito Puente style
mambo arrangements, to a suddenly scaled down acoustic guitar
and Louis Armstrong-style muted trumpet duet, easily covering
50 years of popular music in the span of one song." My translation
- "Intelligent, comedic, unpredictable NYC art students,
gone awry on stage with musical instruments in an auditory explosion
of intermingled, genre busting jocularity". That pretty much
describes the whole attitude of the P.I.C crew and the album
.
Personally, this is not an album that I listen to very often,
or have run out and had to show all of my friends. It is an album
that I would put on in the background of a party. The songs, on
a whole, were mildly interesting, the music will get your head
bobbing, and I guess they were 'fun'. The lyrics at times, however,
left me scratching my head wondering if it was I that was dumb,
or if it was just the song that was dumb. If you are into music
that is more about fun than it is about content, you like your
comedy and your music in one easy to swallow pill, or you are
really into this genre blending craze then this would be a great
album for you to find. If, however, you are more the type the
likes to keep your peas and mashed potatoes separate, find that
"fun loving" bands make you see red, or are the type
that thinks KRS-One when you hear the word hip-hop, then
this is not going to be your cup of tea. As you may guess I am
probably more the latter, so take that with a grain of salt when
you consider this album. All this said I would probably still
go see this band live, in a bar, and, if what I have read about
their live shows was even half true, then I would recommend that
you do, too.
-JD Sipes
Track Listing
1. Circus
2. Sugar Plan
3. Talk
4. Sexy Picnic
5. Ghoti
6. Timonium
7. Kimba Lang
8. Laboratory
9. Nevermore Stories
10. D.A.R.Y.L. (Love Error)
 Talk
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