Osker

Idle Will Kill

(Epitaph)

By any reasonable definition, the new CD from the L.A. band Osker should suck. The singing is so abysmal it will make your teeth hurt. (Think of Elmer Fudd with a sinus infection.) The lyrics sound like they were copied from middle-school love notes passed surreptitiously under the desk. ("Through the strength of your arms/ I realized I was off the mark." You kiddin’ me?) These guys even agreed to appear on the soundtrack to the movie Crazy/Beautiful, so you know right off the bat that you’re dealing with either a) punk rockers who aren’t against dangling their toes in the corporate waters or b) savvy suburban popsters acting tough and hoping to cash in on punk’s street cachet. This disc will probably never again darken your CD player after the first listen, and that would be a shame. For all its goofiness and wayward ambition, there are some genuine hooks ("Motionless," "Back to You") and awfully clever moments of introspection ("The Body"). It’s just vanilla enough that it will probably be a hit record, and who’s to argue?

—Andrew Ervin

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