Revolushn

Drafted from all over America and based on the West Coast in the home of psychedelia, San Fransisco's Revolushn are a good-time psych rock collective who definitely don't take themselves too seriously. No heavy existential trips here, just a giggling float through outer space where apparently, the aliens like to Polka. The group boasts a revolving door of twelve members including founding member Aaron Connor who's main claim to fame is serving as engineer for the majority of the hit albums recorded by RnB heavyweights, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. However, Revolushn could not be further away stylistically. The songs on The Freshman are split between bouncy, silly shout-a-along and Bowie at his most absurd. Their penchant for ridiculously photoshopped videos and quirky, B52s style guitar lines lend themselves to the slightly (or extremely) unhinged.

The album's flavour is definitely eclectic. The original collection of over 30 songs were whittled down to a tight nine. In trying to accommodate all their different whims, the album comes across as disjointed. There is a disconnect between their bar band staples and the more experimental bits. Falling into the first category are 'Suck It Up' and 'KC'. The former has a quirky, new wave tempo and demented guitars. The latter, 'KC', the song named after the town where the group first got together is a straight-forward rocker. This track is the album's most mainstream. Good ol' American blue-eyed bar blues. These songs seem like they'd be live favourites but they just don't fit with the rest of the album.

With those tracks out of the way, the rest of the album plays out as a solid, classic space rock record. Songs like 'Dark Matter' and 'Martian Shanty Town' are sprawling songs bridging the gap between science and science fiction complete with ground control to spaceship phasing vocals. 'Vulcan Love Songs' uses the extraterrestrial funk of George Clinton to give aliens a soundtrack to get down. The wackiest of all, 'Alien Polka' features an almost Zydeco accordion and wonky vocals like The Human League's '(Keep Feeling) Fascination'.

There are a few high points but the second rate songs take away from the whole. The six or seven songs that were on point strung together in an EP would garner a higher rating.