Crash Test Dummies are best known for their 1993 worldwide hit “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm,” yet the Canadian band put out six more albums after that before going on hiatus in 2005. CTD is back this week with Oooh La La (Deep Fried) but in a brand new incarnation. Mainman Brad Roberts (now based in New York City) wrote and recorded the album with producer and engineer Stewart Lerman (Antony And The Johnsons, Marshall Crenshaw, Roches) using ’70s musical toys such as the Optigan for the majority of the LP. (The two were joined on Oooh La La by longtime CTD backing vocalist Ellen Reid.) The result is the happiest-sounding record of Roberts’ two-decade career. Roberts will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new Q&A with him.
Roberts: I have always been fond of slang and expressions. Here are a few I’ve picked up recently:
“Chicken today, feathers tomorrow” (of poverty)
“Better than playing tennis with a cat” (of quality)
“Loose as soot” (of wantonness)
“It has to snow a while before he catches the drift” (of stupid people)
“Worse than kissing your own sister” (of disgust)
“Rowing a boat with a rope” (of erectile dysfunction)
“Brewer’s droop” (of drunken sex)
Writers like Thomas Hardy, Tobias Smollet and James Joyce often cataloged the earth-wisdom of sayings and used it in their work. One day I intend to write a song composed purely of expressions, narratively strung together. I welcome anyone with down-home expressions in their vocabulary to write in with them. You may find them on one of my future records!
Video after the jump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCjICCergq0
