Sitting in the tiny box that functions as both my closet and hi-tek command post, I am again burdened with telling you about a less- than- average album. Alas, few artistic ventures are without mediocrity, except perhaps the lost art of carving 888 Buddhas onto a dried piece of llama dung. Few people practice this art nowadays, though there are fewer still purveyors of the new genre of music called "pop-hop."

We reviewers say: "When in doubt, mock the promo copy." So, being the talentless leech that I am, I went to Hi-Ho Records' web site and looked up the band's bio. Seems they've felt compelled to create a new genre of music to describe their sound: "pop-hop." I would have dubbed the genre "crap" since nobody's using that one now, and it is so descriptive of their sound, dude. As in, "like, my music is crap, man." 10 Cents crap their way through 10 thoroughly worthless tracks based around tired loops, weak lyrics and not much else. Their copy calls it "wacky, breezy, and funky" and if the word "wacky" isn't a tipoff, I don't know what is. They also describe themselves with phrases like "ironic," "cute" and "clever." Although I try desperately to be ironic, cute and clever-- especially at parties-- I wouldn't be caught dead describing myself in such a way. I prefer phrases like "loves to be spanked," "odiferous" and "beautiful man."

But serously folks, the sound is vaguely reminiscent of Beck's funkier work from Odelay, as in it puts its stock in absurdity and its offbeat-ness. Unfortunately, where Beck combined sounds and samples, messing with tempo and rhythm, 10 Cents seems content to lay down a stock beat loop upon which they rhyme lazily for approximately three minutes. Yeah, it's steamy, smells like digested food, and reminds me of somthing that came out of my ass-- it's not "pop-hop," it's crap!

-James P. Wisdom