Wednesday, July 19, 2006

CD Review: P.P.T.’s Tres Monos In Love

By Blair Lovern

Back in April, The Dallas Mavericks invited P.P.T. and a few of us TexasGigs folks to the last regular season game, after P.P.T. won our Mavs playoff theme contest. The game stunk on many levels but it was fun hanging out with them, and I remember at the time thinking I couldn't wait for the group's first CD. Well, it's done. It's called Tres Monos In Love, (Spanish for "three monkeys"), and it's a splendid thing.

Unfortunately for fans it won't be out until the end of summer. But we got an advance copy, suckers! HAHAHAHA-*COUGHCOUGH-HACK!* Ugh.

Ahem.

It's a hip-hop record Steve Blow could love.

These songs have bounced around my brain for weeks. Pikahsso, Picnic and Tahiti can write some catchy stuff. Yes, often bad songs pop in your head. But here's one big fat difference: Tres Monos In Love is kicks the ass of all that is bad.

The songs grow on you, plus (thank goodness) these guys have a sense of humor and aren't full of themselves. They make some cool music, but every now and they'll be grooving along and then toss in something that cracks me up. I don't know what the hell has gotten into some music and/or rest of the world lately, but there has been a genuine fun famine out there. Tres Monos In Love is like eating a big ass piece of fun cake or something. (What the hell are you talking about?) I don't know.

P. P. and T. take their music seriously and have thought creatively in making this record. Pikahsso told me the group doesn't want to be classified as rappers only, which is what happened sometimes when they were introduced after winning the TexasGigs/Mavs contest. I agree they shouldn't, plus their voices are distinct. Pikahsso brings a little funk, Picnic is a smoothy in a good way (plus a great producer) and Tahiti is just plain WHACK.

Every song but one on Tres Monos In Love is about some sort of man/woman relationship (check out all the song descriptions from Pikahsso by clicking in the photo box above.) But you know what? That's what makes the world go 'round. Each song is sandwiched between a brief interlude that lasts a few seconds or not much longer. The only song not about man/woman stuff is the final (bonus) track, "When We Was Kool". It's a killer way to end the CD, one of the best tracks. Another favorite is "DUMPS", which features Headkrack. I have to keep it real like American Idol super judge Randy Jackson and say that the only song I don't care much for is "Waterfall Girl", but that's because I'm just not into falsetto unless it was Freddy Mercury, and even then I had to brace myself for it. However, and I can't explain it, I do like the technique in "Hollerin." Go figure.

I rarely review CDs on this site for a number of reasons. A friend of mine once said, "Blair, you like a little bit of everything and a whole lot of nothing." That's pretty much correct, but Tres Monos In Love is one I wanted to hear. A few of my requirements for music-liking is that the artist put some thought into the work, express the music like no one else and know who came before you so you can build on it and make it your own. P.P.T does all three. In fact, check out their MySpace page for a list of more than 200 musical influences. Del Tha Funkee Homosapien comes just before The Cars, for example. You won't hear everything on that list on Tres Monos In Love (der duh), but you'll get a nice enough variety of styles and sounds to realize these guys know where they came from and know where they're going.

P.S. - Be sure to check back at TexasGigs for some videos down the road, P.P.T. has made one for every song. Included here is the first if you didn't catch it originally.

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