To make the mix more engaging, the members of Gram Rabbit have created a quasi-mystical, self-help manifesto--kinda like a cross between EST and Freemasons--as the (hopefully ironic) graphic-design hook and thematic framework for their debut album.
Coolly seductive front-woman Jesika von Rabbit brings to mind a campier, swinging-'60s version of Lydia Lunch fronting an band that values samples, bleeps, burbles and dance rhythms as much as it does spaghetti-Western guitar profundity. Occasionally, the combination recalls the groovy, post-modern electronic strut of the now-defunct Ethyl Meatplow, a decadent cabaret-style group of about a decade ago that featured eventual Geraldine Fibbers chanteuse Carla Bozulich.
The musicians keep things lively with the deceptively gentle psychedelia of "Kill a Man," the creepy robotic rap of "Cowboys and Aliens" and the sarcastic, Vegas-style lounge disco of "Cowboy Up." Music to Start a Cult To is always fun and never boring, but you may feel the need to bathe after listening to it.
