Though they were always one of the artier punk bands, Mekons have still come a long way from their meager beginnings in 1977. Their latest release is a comeback of sorts, but it doesn't sound like anything you'll remember from the year punk broke. Me is a concept album for god's sake, slick and heavily produced, musically all over the map, with pornographic lyrics focusing on the shallowness of materialism and sexual obsession. Sometimes it verges on the overblown. I mean, these guys don't have the chops for art rock-- not even close. But at that point, when the music's reach seems to exceed its grasp, along comes a great pop song to reel you in, albeit one with a shockingly dirty mind.

It's a beautiful thing to see a band, particularly a punk band, grow old gracefully, keeping current without paying too much attention to trends. Mekons do that here, with some funky, trip- hop style rhythms that don't feel forced or out of place. And the production is fantastic, framing the poppier numbers with soulful, mid- period- Bowie touches that sound great on the first listen. Some of these numbers ("Enter The Lists," "Come And Have A Go If You Think You're Hard Enough") sound like bonafide radio hits. Well, except that the title of the latter means what you think it means. Oh yeah, and the bridge goes "Oh shit/ Got some on me/ Oh fuck/ Got some in me." And they're not talking about marinara sauce, folks.

Throughout, the lyric sheet reads like a page ripped from Kool Keith's diary, and if Pitchfork weren't a family magazine I could give you more of a taste. But here the dirty words are used to serve the concept, and what that is... uh, I'm not really sure. But it has something to do with sex-- the shallow, fake, surface- level, meaningless, fun kind. Or maybe it's not supposed to be fun. You know how the British are with sarcasm. In any case, it's interesting and becomes more so with each listen, both musically and thematically, and that's the sign of an album that'll be in your player awhile.

-Mark Richard-San