Pick Up On: VALUEDCUSTOMER

Bookended by menacing self-help monologues that offer instructions on how and when to listen to the album, VALUEDCUSTOMER’s Babylon Hill is a celebration of unabashed weirdness and silly mellifluousness. The Toronto duo exhibit a recognizable affinity for bizarre performance artists The Residents – as evident on ‘Fiona Handbag’, ‘Mother! Mother!’, ‘Mango Lassi’, and ‘Participant Unwilling’. But, they hoist a freak flag all their own – exemplified in the yelping, rhythmic ‘Hill Song One’; the languid, burnt-out acoustic jive of ‘Bangs’; and the inebriated plastic soul of ‘The Drinking Song’. Rarely do I happen upon music this strange & listenable. Babylon Hill is available on bandcamp – pay what you like, and a new album is slated to appear on bandcamp June 28^th.