&color1
Ladies and Gentlemen...
They've become the house band to my podcast and even gained some attention from Marvel's editor in chief Joe Quesada, so who are the Kirby Krackle and is their debut cd really worth your time? Well, let's jump right into it as I take a look in this week's spotlight column on the Kirby Krackle!
When I stopped by their table at New York Comic Con, I honestly don't remember who I talked too but I remember just how excited he was to be at the show promiting the cd. He let me listen to the song that they've chosen as there debut single Marvelous Girls and it caught me right away. Soon I found a copy of the cd in my hands. The cd itself has 10 tracks plus a bonus. The cover art is done by none other then Jim Mahfood (pictured right) who paints the guys as the cool hipsters and the songs quickly prove they are just that.
The words and music are all done by Kyle Stevens and Jim Demonakos and the performances are all Kyle solo. The songs are catchy and range in everything from video games (Zelda and Mario Cart sticking out the most) and comic books as well. There's even a bit of everyone's favorite undead, zombies.
Back to the Beginning is the opening track on the cd and it's all about Mario Kart (which is one of the best nintendo games ever in my opinion). The song itself is one of the stronger ones on the album and will easily get stuck in your head as Kyle sings about getting lost and getting help from a little man in the clouds.
One of the Guys is a great song all about Ben Grimm which I honestly didn't realize at first. For whatever reason, I wasn't fully paying attention to the lyrics but when I did I was glad to hear that the guys obviously like one of my favorite characters as much as I do. It's all about how much Ben has tried to fit in since becoming the Thing. By the end of the song, it touches on just how much people respect him and how much he is actually one of the guys.
Up, Up, Down, Down is of course all about one of the most famous cheat codes in all of gaming. I kind of compare it to Feist's 1,2,3,4 which kind of plays similar. It's a fun song that references several different things until you get to the last few minutes and it twists into something a bit different. It goes from romance to horror in a dark way but the actual tune is still pretty light.
Naked Wii lives up to it's title as it's all about playing the Wii naked. Really, I like it being the comedic love song of the album as it plays to what nerds could find romantic. Well some nerds, obviously it's meant to be a funny song.
Villain Song is my favorite on the cd, hands down. If you love Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog or Soon I Will Be Invincible (an amazing book that any comic book fan should hunt down) which a villain who's decided to hang up the freeze ray and give up, this is a song you will enjoy. It actually makes me smile every time I listen to it as I think of seeing things from the diabolical villian's side of the story. It's kind of touching in a way, especially when the fire returns toward the end of the track.
Marvelous Girls gives us a tour of the over all Marvel Universe and it's female denizens. From Wakanda, to Genosha, to Latveria and even space, we get references to Doom, Panther and Genosha being well, not there anymore.
Teabagged is about every gamer's worst nightmare when a little idiot does the horrible act to you. Mind you if your not a gamer you're going to have no idea what I'm talking about, but it's great that the lyrics to the song kind of make fun of the guys who are sore losers. Overall it's about online gaming, mostly of the first person shooter variety.
Another New Crisis is the song that you guys hear playing on the Why I Love Comics podcast and I personally love it almost as much as the secret track and Villain Song. It touches on all the crisis's and how much the event's are wearing down the fanbase and even shares the guys excitment as kids picking up comics at the local supermarket. It should definitely be the second single.
Counting On You is all about Superman and contains one of the catchiest chorus's on the cd. It's all about how much the world counts on Superman to save them from burning buildings and other things.
Zombie Apocalypse has to be a love letter to George Romero as it recounts someone's adventures as they move through a zombie infested world and share just how much it stinks. From a broken internet to naked woman who would be attractive if they weren't dead, this one finds its own beat.
Our secret track at the end of cd is definitely a great way to end this one as it's all about Tony Stark and how much he kind of screwed things up via Civil War. It's touching and really makes you feel for Tony. He lost so much to go with his plan and now has to fix everything.
So at the end of the day the Kirby Krackle's debut cd is definitely something any fan of video games, comics and zombie movies will love. It's almost as if Tenacious D, Jack Johnson and Ben Folds were mixed into a blender. It has a perfect balance of humor, story telling and great singing/guitar work. I highly recommend it to anyone.
Take A Listen
The video comes from a live show at the Comic Stop on 1-31-09!
Learn more about the band by visiting
www.kirbykracklemusic.com
Eric Ratcliffe is a young writer/pop culture journalist/interviewer currently working on pitching a project named the Hunter chronicles. When not reading his weekly stack Eric can be found watching dvd's, playing on his 360 (gamertag: Zack Hunter) or just surfing online trying to find a scoop or two. Brand new to the Comic Related family, Eric is a fun new voice. Eric shops at TJ's Collectibles. Visit them on the web at www.tjcollect.com!
blog comments powered by Disqus