Man, does this kind of nerd-rock get annoying quickly. WhenI first started listening to this EP I actually quite liked the quirky vocals and none-too-challenging lyrics, but on repeated listenings it just really starts to grate. I mean, this may be your thing, and if it is, fair play to you for having tha patience to stick through it. Nerf Herder are probably most famous for having penned the Buffy theme music, but this collection of songs contains mostly slower numbers, all about the trials and tribulations of growing up – girls, school and wanking. If this came out about 10 years earlier then maybe (just maybe) NH might be considered innovative. As it is, it’s just annoying.
The first track is perhaps the only one that can be construed as being remotely serious, going by the name of ‘Hotel California’. Opening like an Offspring circa-2000 track it’s all meaty, chugging guitars and plaintive vocals. It’s as if they’re really making an effort to write a song without the phrase “jerking off” in it, and it just sounds laboured and mundane as even the chorus makes no attempt to raise matters above the plodding, familiar rythmn. It’s not quite as annoying as ‘High School’, which just disturbs me since it’s so fucking awful. Boring, flat and unimaginative while obviously trying to be funny, it’s like Simple ‘fuckoffanddie’ Plan in thick rimmed glasses instead of big shorts.
The thing is, when Nerf Herder are on form they’re genuinely touching and funny. ‘Bridge Under Troubled Water’ has the same simplistic structure but moves at a faster pace, and has none of that saccharine “aw man I hate school” crap that dogs some of the other tracks. It’s a more sarcastic tone, rather than the ‘hey hey, I’m kerazy’ humour, and as a result the same brand of wit elevates ‘Love Sandwich’ too. Musically NH aren’t exactly hugely innovative, they rely heavily on muted power chords and solid if unadventurous basslines. This runs throughout the entire EP, almost like Weezer without the lyrical beauty or the technical wizardry. ‘The Sportsman Bar’ continues in this theme and trend, but to be fair it must be noted that the minor observations in the lyrics do add an air of individuality and personality, seeing as the music is so damn mundane.
‘I’ve Got A Boner For Xmas’ and ‘Fight For Your Right To Masturbate’ sound like Blink 182 demos before they’ve actually started being funny, and needless to say I can’t be arsed to repeat everything I’ve said before about the unimaginative and criminally repetitive music. I haven’t even mentioned the last 2 tracks, which go by the name of ‘I Want To Take You Out For Ice Cream’ and ‘Nikki Webster’ simply because I can’t be arsed. If you like the first track you’ll like them all, but Nerf Herder really do get very boring very quickly, and this review has been so shitty simply because there’s so little to say about the entire EP. Go buy Weezer‘s first album instead. It’s probably on sale somewhere.
Ben