TROY TAROY
Employee of the Month (Roud Records)
Reviewed by Erick Mertz

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Hey, who out there made this guy employee of the month? No, no, seriously, who? I mean, I've been to Walgreen's, Wendy's and Wisteria's Lingerie Modeling so far this weekend, and nowhere among their honoring of exemplary workers was a picture of Troy Taroy, but one half of one track into his album Employee of the Month, I feel he is more deserving than any of those happy housewives in charge of customer service.

That first track was called "Grounded," one of the more unique rock-like-things I've encountered in my time reviewing albums. At once it sounds like Steely Dan on steroids (sometimes too, the album glances off into musings of Poison, XTC and Blur: seriously) with humorous lyrical turns like "Everyone's heading off to Africa/I'd really like to go with ya," a strange straight man's take on comic troupe heart break. Taroy doesn't approach his music with many inhibitions, his screechy vocal styling is somewhere along the Joe Cocker meets Tom Waits Avenue and his subject is matter pre-occupied with American cheese and Domestic Servitude. But that's not to reduce an evaluation of Employee of the Month entirely on how able the listener is to take it seriously; Taroy reminds us that rock is supposed to be fun after all, an expression of deeper inhibitions released.

Apparently the gates have opened, and the hyper-active, IT department pop culturists have picked up guitars; now they're ready to use them as vehicles for taking over. Be afraid, be very amused.

[Pick this up at troytaroy.com.]

© 2004 - Erick Mertz