THE WIPEOUTERS P'TWAAANG!!! ALBUM CASUAL TONALTIES RELEASE: APRIL 24, 2001 REVIEW: JUNE 21, 2001

In true Devo-style, we don't get a new Devo-album. Instead a reunion album of the strange, probably fictional surf band The Wipeouters, that Mark Mothersbaugh claims to have been in together with the rest of the Devo core. Which might be just as well. This is a light-hearted, wacky record to enjoy independently of the group's previous recordings. The title pretty much says it all. Twangy guitars and fast going are the main rules. Vocals disrupt the instrumental surf concept on a few tracks, otherwise this is more or less the soundtrack of life on some weird beach in a place called "Goon Island".
Included is the title theme to an animated children's show called "Rocket Power", one of the many commissioned television, movie and computer game works that Mothersbaugh has been working on since the demise of Devo. It's a relief to see some people really never grow up.

MATTIAS HUSS