The Smoking Rolo Sideshow  - Album - Mucho Mojo Baby

With a band name like this you are going to be expecting either a folk band fronted by old men, or something truly odd and bizarre. But neither of these predictions come to be true. The Smoking Rolo Sideshow boast a wide array of instruments to accompany the usual guitars and drums, but you can't help but feel that these additions are slightly underused. The sound that the band produce is an obvious indication that they don't want to be the same as every indie/rock band. You can see where they are going with the sound, but it does seem like something got lost along the way.

'The King is Dead' is a delightfully mysterious and slightly epic opening, boasting playful guitars and doomy bass lines. It even begins to sound like an imperial woodland march at one point. The track builds up the album in a brilliant way. It's only when 'Get Over It' starts that opinions will be split. For some the track will be a logical way to follow 'The King is Dead', but others will see it as a bit of let down as the oddities from track one aren't continued.

The rest of the album is a brilliant mess; plenty of different styles and something for all to enjoy. Where as 'Get Over It' is a seemingly standard soft rock song 'The Devil's Best Tune' is very much a song to surf to. A care free, relaxed and determined sound covers this entire track. Mean while, over on 'Snake Oil Charm', a very heavy and progressive tone is dominant; it could quite easily be a track from Tool's 'Undertow' album. 'A Waltz in Clown Shoes' either serves as an intermission or another example of the band's desire to appear odd. 'This Is Not That' is a return to the alternative rock ways for the first few tracks, but quirky lyrics and a fast pace separate the track from the rest of the album, maintaining a diverse sound.

This album truly is odd, but not in a pretentious way. The varied track styles make it hard to judge the album as a whole. Some may classify 'Mucho Mojo Baby' as genius but all those who do not will certainly view it as a cut above the rest.