Not a Food - Novelty Gift for Pranks & Gags

This is both an unusually focused and unfocused record for this particular group. That is a contradictory statement, yes, but let me explain what I mean. Here, unlike on many of their records, Cheer-Accident mainly stick to one sound and approach on this record, a sort of classic RIO/avant-prog approach mixed with modern (well, 90s) math-rock and noise-rock. That's the focused part. The unfocused part is that there is an unusual amount of filler. This mainly takes the form of simply unnecessary add-ons like the 4 1/2 minute drone/answering machine collage in the opening "Even Has A Half-Life", the 2-minute mock-glitch "remix" of said track, and the "waaaah" transition between "King Cheezamin" and "Grow II" that lasts about a minute that could have been used to fit some more substantial riffs onto the latter.But, remember the focused part. Cheer-Accident revisited their noisy "Dumb Ask" days after the poppy "Why Album", it seems, and the result is some jagged mathy tuneage that is typically quite impressive. "Even Has A Half-Life" is a really strong opener aside from its middle (which passes fairly quickly anyway, once you know the song) and is full of impressive time changes, "Nutrition" features the infamous 'Helmet riff' that has led some people like a reviewer on this very page to cite quite unfounded comparisons between the two groups (and is a really great song), "30 Seconds of Weightlessness" interjects an interesting post-rock vibe into the mix, and "Ice Cream and Lies" is a well-composed suite of super-intricate riffs bringing to mind perhaps a hypothetical Henry Cow/Don Caballero collab. Therefore, I really couldn't give this any less than four stars, as the complaints I listed above amount to, what, 7 1/2 minutes of music? If you like any kind of prog, math-rock, or absurdist music, you need this.