Everything I hear about this band "Mr. Mirainga" tries to describe
them as punk. I would like to shift that description to more of
the geek-rock scene, just on the punkier end of that spectrum. I
just want that out in the open, so that if you hear that they're
punk, you don't run out and get it expecting Black Flag or the
Circle Jerks or something.
The "geek-rock" title is not in any way meant to be a derogatory
term. It's the hip new sub-genre in what was once classified
as "alternative" music. I don't want to berate this too much, but
when I listen to Mr. Mirainga, I hear quite a bit of Beck or Weezer.
Another reason I would rather not call Mr. Mirainga "punk" is that
besides providing the sharper sounds on such tracks as "Burnin'
Rubber" (on the "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls" soundtrack), they
offer a lot of diversity. "Saguarro's Cryin'", for example, is
especially Latin sounding. Additionally, "Jalopeno Eyes" is
nearly They Might Be Giants in its humor and "Grandma's Cookin'"
is so strange, it's simply unclassifiable.
Although I find their first single, "Burnin' Rubber," quite
pretentious and over-hyped, I really enjoyed their LP. Mr.
Mirainga come across with a diversity that is not very common in
the music scene today. Besides a few low points, such as
"Loaded," I found several tracks quite listenable (those tracks
would be all of those identified before this paragraph, plus "Ants
and Bees"). If you really like Beck or some of the punk bands
like SNFU, you will probably really like the CD "Mr. Mirainga" by
the band of the same name. It is due out in January, 1996.
