Rock and roll should be fun. It is not rocket science. More to the point, it's better when it isn't rocket science! That was the crux of the punk movement of the late '70s, as well as the message of garage bands from that day to this: “You wanna be serious ? In your face, pal! We're here to have fun!!”

Aspect Ratio (a.k.a. Jim Gross and Izzy Singer) is a garage band. And that's an honorable title to hold. Why? Because garage bands have always put the whimsy, the laughter, the fun into rock and roll! Think about it: Would you rather sit through 80 minutes of “Tales From Topographic Oceans”, or sing along with “Louie Louie”? The latter will be finished 78 minutes sooner, and you'll have a lot more fun. The choice between being pounded by Nine Inch Nails or bouncing along with the Trashmen is no choice at all. Because “Surfin' Bird” was fun! Trent Reznor may be many things, but he sure as hell ain't fun!

Aspect Ratio knows you have got to laugh once in a while. Sure, Gross and Singer can be serious when they want to be. Their music reflects influences that range from R.E.M. to Hank Williams, and their lyrics address everything from the aftermath of a breakup to the death of the family farm. But there isn't a hint of the pompous anywhere in Aspect Ratio's songbook. What can you find about a love song for a hurricane (“Remnants Of Isabel”) that is pompous? What is pompous about an ode to a lawn ornament, that implores, “Bathtub Virgin, say a prayer for me/Watch over the swing set and the hibachi”?

Stumped? You'd better be, or you've missed the whole point. In a time when irony has been put under house arrest, and whole newsstands are taken up with breathless speculation on which Jennifer is dating Ben Affleck now, we have to start laughing or we'll all go inane. Not insane... inane. Without laughter, without satire, without fun, what's life but a cubicle you don't get to leave at the end of the day? Is that any way to run an existence? You bet it ain't!

Break out of the cubicle. Run away from the serious.
Put a little Aspect Ratio into your life.

At the very least, you're going to laugh a little. And that's not a bad thing at all.

J Hunter
Staff Writer, albanyjazz.com