All Music Guide reviews Total Blowhards’ newest release, a big bowl of crap.
When Total Blowhards released a decaying corpse onto the music scene in 2006, it was a turning point for the band whose outlandish cult following had finally transgressed into a mainstream pop success. Their stylish, in-your-face attitude in releasing old-school, physical excrement as music proved to be a fruitful new middle ground in the long-standing divide between the sculptural and the aural arts. Total Blowhards aren’t afraid to emotionally experiment with the tastes and nuances of modern music culture despite their limited success in 2004 with their EP, a bowl of toenails. It’s no surprise that many critics have compared their Coldplay-like arrangement of poo and corn to 1970s excrement disco band I’m a Hardened Criminal or prog digesters Gets Away with Felonies. The strange physical texture of their bowl of crap is the most self-confident and enjoyable album yet. It kicks off with a refined yet lo-fi “awful smell” and using a discomforting yet yearning guitar solo to take the listener to “bacterial disease.” With a big-budget production like this bowl of crap, Total Blowhards risked the edge between cool and commercial but they’re not afraid to display their accessibility with the entry “stiff brown thing.” Joe Fyou has a knack for pushing out the best albums on the scene today. They end up grandiose, wry, sharp, experimental, focused, refined, goodly mannered, extravagant soundscapes that explore the very limits of music itself. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★