Label reps invite you, when listening to
Potshot's fifth Asian Man album, to "imagine
Screeching Weasel and
the Specials doing a tango." Granted, it's a mental image that will help keep your mind off the band's hilariously atrocious English (sample couplet: "Many sad and tuff happened/It was very happy times"), but a more apt stylistic comparison might be
the Mighty Mighty Bosstones with
Eek-A-Mouse guesting on lead vocals. Great horn arrangements, solid punk-ska guitars, indelible melodic hooks, and a cute (if ultimately irritating) hiccupy vocal style combine to make
Dance to the Potshot Record a great summertime party album. Awful as the lyrics are, they never intrude on your musical enjoyment because singer Ryoji is so completely incomprehensible; what matters on songs like "In Time Now" and "Victory or Lost" are the buzzsaw guitars and the cathartic horn lines, and the band's infectious, jubilant energy. Recommended. (
Dance to the Potshot Record was originally released in Japan in 2002; the 2004 U.S. release adds two bonus tracks.) ~ Rick Anderson