File Under: Techno Punk rating: D tracks 1. Disco Dancer 2. East Coast/West Coast 3. Red Hott 4. 5'2" 5. A.D.D. related links Narnack Records

Lil' Pocketknife's new EP, Pants Control, is less a sonic assault, and more of just an assault on the ears of listener. There just isn't enough going on with this album for anyone to put an effort into taking a listen to it. It's four songs too long for someone to figure out that Lil' Pocketknife has been listening to her female fronted, indie rock subgenre "superstars" a bit too much lately.

CMJ fell in love with Lil' Pocketknife when they released their first album under the name Northern State. The fairer sex Beastie Boy wannabes aren't the only obvious influences here, but the likes of Peaches, and Brassy can be heard on this EP that hopefully only took about a day to put together (otherwise there is no excuse). Pants Control is a techno backed quasi-rap-neo-post punk-trip hop-industrial earful of crap, which, if there is a God, won't progress in popularity any further than the hip side of San Francisco.

The actual tracks on this album are so simple any inclined eight year old could have gotten a producer credit on this album, and no one would have bat an eye (except maybe for Rachel Trachtenburg, and she would have only cared because she wasn't the youngest any more). First of all, every track on this album mentions the artists name more times than your average rapper drops a designer's name for a little bling on the side. Not to mention that Lil' Pocketknife has a horribly abrasive voice, and listening to her rap or sing or shriek really could be used to torture any P.O.W. The fact that there is very little substance to the songs also offends me, since there isn't any other discernable selling point. I guess one could be that it is only five tracks long, but that doesn't mean I would run out and buy it.

At a time when music is so accessible to the public, and whoever wants to create it, some people should really just use their Macs for something better, like a nice doorstop. Pass this one over in the bin, even though the cover is so decoratively drawn, there just isn't any discernable redeeming quality found on Pants Control. Poor Lil' Pocketknife, at least she thinks she can conquer the world standing at only 5'2", but hopefully her A.D.D. will get in the way and save us all.

Jason Cipriano is the Senior Editor. Contact him at jasonc@rockzone.com.