Review Summary: Guitar solos, skits, songs that seem all out of order. This is the Aqua Teen soundtrack alright.
For years on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim there was a gem of a show consisting of three pieces of food hanging out in their house in New Jersey. It was called Aqua Teen Hunger Force and since 2000 has been one of the most random shows in existence; employing non-sequiters and cameos (Zakk Wylde, Geddy Lee, Ted Nugent). Calling myself a fan boy of this show would be a horrible understatement; every joke they put in their 12 minute episodes clicked and it clicked hard, hard enough to warrant me buying all 4 seasons and highly anticipating the full length film. That being said, a soundtrack has to either be:
A. Full of comedic skits
B. Full of scenes from the movie
C. Music from the film combined with A and B.
The answer is C but that doesn't mean the soundtrack is a fan boy's wet dream. Its similar to the movie in the terms of both were pretty disappointing to me, but both certainly do have their moments. Of course like most soundtracks there are songs made only for this album but not in the movie. In this case they are from a (surprisingly diverse) catalog that includes
The Hold Steady,
Unearth, and
Killer Mike.
The soundtrack begins right with one of the main characters, a Master Shake played classic.
Nude Love sounds like something a lame guy who just bought an acoustic guitar a week ago would play, but it just sounds better coming from a pistachio milkshake than a sensitive guy with long hair. Though he stumbles, "has trouble with the G", and has a minute and a half song (half of which is an advertisement for his CD); Master Shake proves to be the most musically able piece of food on this soundtrack. The intro continues with a fake movie advertisement in the tune of the advertisement for the snack bar; instead of food advertisements there are rules ranging from keeping your shirt on to not "pull your penis out" seeing as that's "a class two felony". The perverted yet cute jingle ends and goes to Mastodon, again as pieces of food, with another warning. This one is much heavier and relies more on threats ("I will bite your torso/And give you a disease") to get its point across. A fast moving, entertaining, and sololicious song provides the best and most memorable song on the soundtrack.
From this point the direction seems to change, and the characterization usually reserved for songs to put a more unspoken emphasis on introducing the characters gets pretty literal. Titles such as
More to Me Than Meat And Eyes and
Carl's Theme mean well but just end up being either a musical drag or repeated catchphrases with decent instrumentals. The songs that seem to stick out most do come from the most unexpected sources (just like the show) which in this case are the Hold Steady's
Girls Like Status and Brass Castle's
Bookworm Resin. Both songs have little to nothing to do with the actual movie but are cool soundtrack editions. What does have highly to do with the movie are 3 short originals which either got their start on the show or on the insane-O-flex. A good thing about this work is putting the first smash hit by MC Pee Pants (
I Want Candy) and the Andrew W.K. party anthem (
Party, Party, Party) both on one CD.
Varied, inconsistent, and a bit of a disappointment. These are words that describe the soundtrack that seems to exclusively cater to big fans of the show. It might be worth checking out if you are a fan of some of the bands listed here or if you just like to watch adult cartoons late at night.
