Music Review // Bad Sneakers "Tanooki Suit"

https://open.spotify.com/album/0Mz5XgSDFHWzL9Yjo7qAXt

The weirdo music of Bad Sneakers reminds me of some cross between Atom and His Package, Ted Leo and They Might Be Giants.   A song such as "Fuck Around" has this groove like "Burning Down The House" and "Live Laugh Lucifer" feels like a flamenco dancing type of song.   This is ironic because the song called "Dance Motherfucker" doesn't really feel like a dance number.  

At times this feels like a jam band but then pianos come out on "Soleism".   "Ave Satanas" is pretty catchy and my favorite song on the album.  During this song, Bad Sneakers sings about "cosplay Christians", which is a real thing because a lot of people go to church or claim to follow The Bible but then do the opposite of what it seems like they are supposed to be doing.  

With the title "Tanooki Suit" I was expecting this to be more like a video game soundtrack but with the references to God this almost feels like it's more religious than about video games.   I realize there are religious based video games but it is perhaps best not to think about that right now or ever.

The idea of this album being called "Tanooki Suit" is also interesting as the Tanooki Suit is a spinoff of the raccoon version of Mario and unlike when Mario has just the tail and ears, this suit can help Mario fly easier and turn to stone to avoid enemies.  I'd really like for Bad Sneakers to do a series of albums based upon various Mario (and Luigi) costumes, such as "Cat Suit", but whether that happens or not will have to be left up to the future.