Apologizers - Blimp to the sun (www.apologizers.com)

Sometimes it's hard doing reviews. Album after album passes your ears, with musicians making serious attempts at making good music. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they fail, but it's all so serious. What you really need to hear every now and again is someone who's just taking the piss bigtime.

Into the breach step the Apologizers, a band in the grand tradition of Frank Zappa, the Butthole Surfers and Mr Bungle, who are less interested in making groundbreaking music than in having some fun, taking the piss and bringing a smile to the listener. Apologizers play music in a general electronic style, bringing literally everything from disco and hip hop to gabba and industrial into the mix, and sometimes a little more, like on 'Scottish mall', where they mix funky beats and bagpipes.

But it's the lyrics, totally puerile as they are, that really make this double album what it is. What about the punky 'Priapism' (no more need be said) or the hilarious 'I.mas.tur.bate', sung to the tune of 'YMCA', or 'Houseguest', which is like 'Bad babysitter' on acid. Then there's the brilliant parody of NIN on 'Closer' and 'Kinda like a trend', where they take the basis of NIN songs, change the words a little (like "I want to masticate you" on 'Closer') and add in some straightforward commentary about Trent Reznor, and you've got some perfect satire that succeeds in exposing how ridiculous NIN can be.

That said, the music isn't that bad either. Like their predecessors, Apologizers have realised that this stuff works best if it sounds good as well and there are actually some great tracks on here, particularly the mix of jazz and ska that is 'My uncle's coffee'. CD2 has some brilliant extended electronic pieces, with loads of cut-ups and a wide variety of different styles.

Apologizers are a fun band that do not take themselves at all seriously and that's like a breath of fresh air. Check this out, if it doesn't make you laugh at least once, you must be dead.

Donnacha DeLong