Dirty Linen (#88 June/July 2000: Those Darn Accordions! - truckloads of tacky tornadoes.
If your tastes run along the lines of Spike Jones, Weird A] Yankovic, and Dr. Demento, then add the wacky, tacky Those Darn Accordions to your sick list. Needless to say, it's an accordion band where six of the eight members play
squeezeboxes, backed by a tight rhythm section. A number of tunes spoof the new wave sounds of the 80s to the point you have to rejoice that era is gone. But instead of truckloads of synthesizers, all parts are marvelously done on accordion. In that vein, there are songs of aliens demanding accordions, guys getting stuck to the walls with gum, and gun-toting psycho derelicts. Of the
traditional accordion fare, there's a tangy tango and a Texas Tornado-styled TexMex two-step. But undoubtedly the best is the hilarious polka-crazcd "First Bratwurst of Summer" where a deprived carnivorous Swede utters the memorable line "There's one thing missing here, Beer! Beer! Beer." If you're into spoof and goof, then there's nothing missing here. (DW)
Blue Suede News - Issue # 50, Spring 2000
This band is whacked out. I happen to mean that as a compliment because they
don't sound like anyone else and every song is a strange trip to the
outermost limits of what's weird yet also, somehow, familiar. Those Darn
Accordions! have been at it for over ten years and on Clownhead six of the
eight band members play accordion, and often times in ways you can't imagine.
It's a remarkable record because they seemingly do the impossible and
transcend novelty, despite songs entitled "Hippie With A Banjo," "Wall Of
Gum," "First Bratwurst Of Summer," "Dude," and "I Think About Stuff." I
guess you just have to hear this stuff. - David J. Klug
Victory Review
There are five accordion players in this Bay area band but you wouldn't gather that from this
CD, their fourth CD over ten years. There are bits of rap/ funk with "They Came for Accordions",
cajun with the amusing "Hippie With a Banjo," metal, sort of, with "Kick My Butt," and tex-mex with
"Mucho De Nada." As is easily gathered from the titles this is a happy bunch of lyrical and musical
parodists, and while no doubt a terrifically fun live band, on CD I found my attention wandering
about half way through. A touch of Mark Graham's both clever and piercing insights into life's
little absurdities would lift these songs beyond the average. Most surprising to me is that with all
this accordion firepower they aren't more inventive with the possibilities. This would make a fun
party CD, since it's tuneful and rather danceable most of the time. - Bill Compton
