Menomena
I Am The Fun Blame Monster
Release Date: Jun 20, 2003
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Record label: Muuuhahaha!
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Album Review: I Am The Fun Blame Monster by Menomena
Very Good, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 7/10
The Portland trio that comprises Menomena calls its first album I Am the Fun Blame Monster!, which is an anagram for "the first Menomena album. " That kind of joke is typical of a band that packages the disc in a flipbook showing them performing on drums, bass, and piano and that reveals in their press materials that the album was largely produced with a self-written computer program, after which they learned to play its songs live. Cut through all this traffic, and the music itself is still laden with primitive effects.
Opinion: Excellent
Menomena is a trio – no other musicians are credited on I Am The Fun Blame Monster, and our triumvirate only gets photos. Yet, the grooves boast the sort of small orchestra that would make a gifted school’s band director wince with envy. Menomena’s melodies shuffle and ramble, obscuring the hooks. The band speaks jazz and hip hop fluently, but you wouldn’t know it until the third or fourth date.