Johnny Ill Band - Ask All the Doctors (Urinal Cake Records)

Singing about his life, Ill courts the absurd while the band brings it on

Dec 7, 2011 at 12:00 am
Johnny Ill Band - Ask All the Doctors (Urinal Cake Records)
Urinal Cake Records

Johnny Ill sings it how it is — and how it can be — real weird, sometimes. Whether he's living in a garage or living in the future, cursing faulty washing machines or practicing good posture to attract more babes, he's painting everyday portraits — mostly autobiographical — with a crooked view. This local quintet's songs have the hooky mechanics of pop — it gleams with jangly struts, but Doctors is dented here and there: atonal riffs, floods of feedback and sing-speak rants. It'd be easy to wave this off as absurdist non-sequitur music if it weren't the dude's actual life.