REVIEWS FOR HAPPIER THAN YOU

NPR: All Songs Considered
“Irreverent and hilarious.”

ALL MUSIC GUIDE
“If you call your band Jesus H Christ and the Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse you better be ready to bring some serious mojo to the party. It's a name that's guaranteed to piss people off and produce a strong reaction, and the band lives up to its snarky moniker with 13 tasty little gems that take a jaundiced view of modern life in all its vexing complexity. The Hornsmen play in a variety of styles that reference everything from blues shuffles to ska syncopations to new wave jitter. They keep the party going with their energetic presentation and the terrific vocals of lead singer and songwriter Risa Mickenberg, a stylist who can shift from girlish merriment to smoky solemnity in the batting of an eye. There is indeed a horn section, but it doesn't take center stage, except on the new wave/ska/B-movie theme instrumental "The Vixen." Mostly, it's part of a unified front that puts everything into the service of the song, and the songs here are uniformly superb. If you think of the the B-52's doing songs written by Elvis Costello and arranged by Nick Lowe you'll be in ballpark, but the band has a skewed personality that's all its own. Take "Back Burner Guy," for example. It sounds like a '60s era girl group pop tune, but the attitude of callous narcissism is contemporary. Mickenberg sounds gleeful as she keeps her second string beau at arms length with a teasing vocal. "You'll never kiss me, so don't even try," she sings, with enough of a smile in her voice to keep the sap hanging on. "Vanity Surfin'" is indeed a surf tune, but it's about people who surf the net to Google themselves for a cheap kick and is a lot funnier than this dry description might lead you to believe. "I Miss Your Arm" is a late-night salon standard that could have been written in the '40s, a song of lost love that Mickenberg sings with aching sincerity. "Alcoholics in My Town" is either laugh-out-loud funny, or a pathetic commentary of small town life; it probably depends on your viewpoint or drinking habits. It's a slow bluesy tune with a touch of surf guitar twang that paints little vignettes of the loners and losers we've all known. "I Hope You're Happy" is a modern talking blues with a deadly punch line, about trying to come to terms with a failed relationship. Mickenberg and Joel Shelton, the band's guitarist and co-songwriter, sing the lyrics with a deadpan delivery that intensifies its deadly irony. The Hornsmen have obvious influences, but they've been blending into the band's unified vision. Their literate, darkly humorous lyrics, inventive arrangements, and the edgy, effervescent vocals of Mickenberg make them something special.” – J. Poet

BLENDER MAGAZINE:

Sexually experienced Manhattan SWF seeks companionship--really wants to talk about it.

Backed faithfully by an all-male septet that injects stealth hooks and four horns into its accomplished theater rock, Risa Mickenberg speaks for the neurotic women on whom neurotic men blame their problems. A satirist who aimed for laugh lines on Jesus's 2006 debut, she's both sharper and nicer here. Though "Liz the Hot Receptionist" is incurably dim, and anyone willing to stay on ice as Mickenberg's "Back Burner Guy" has only himself to blame, the missed connection of "Julie on the Fung Wah Bus" is a romance disguised as a spoof, and you'd have to be meaner than Mickenberg to mock poor Monica, the character whose answering-machine entreaties provide the entire lyric of "I'm Around." Mickenberg has the kind of cutesy voice that jerks find annoying unless it comes with porn skills. Non-jerks who go for the brains it masks stand a chance of being remembered as fondly as the lost love of "I Hope You're Happy." - Robert Christgau, Blender, Dec. 2008

EPINIONS: BRIAN BLOCK: BEST ALBUMS OF 2008 (#13)
Risa Mickenberg is, as far as I know, the funniest lyricist going these days, which is not to say her band should be filed (or dismissed, if that's your sad way) with Tom Lehrer or Moxy Fruvous or They Might Be Giants. Hers is a social, storytelling humor of the people around her, Atom and His Package with more devoted rhyming skills and a less-flourished geekiness. Why, seven of the thirteen songs are about male/female relationships, even if Risa is more likely than most to ask you to be her "Back Burner Guy" ("you can stroke my ego, but that's all") or to imagine a song in Missed Connections Craigslist ad form. The jazzy Rogers-and-Hammersteiny show tune "I Miss Your Arm" doesn't miss her ex's brain or his personality or his sexxxing her up, but does miss his sheer comforting physical presence. Which actually isn't funny, but humor often is simply the guise that unused good ideas hide in.

When they want to, the Four Hornsmen play top-notch good-time rock and roll, supplemented with horn section (hence the name) and the sprightly Cars-style synth lines that Del Shannon legitimized way back in 1961. More often they're futzing skillfully with surf-rock ("Vanity Surfin'"'s internet goofery is lyrically simple but musically far more developed than the genre requires), or balancing piano balladry with thrash-punk, or waiting for some Rockettes to prance by, or doing a gentle folk sing-along tribute to the "Alcoholics in My Town". I have no idea how sincere the album is, and I may not have expected to care. But the spoken-word sections of "I Hope You're Happy" are as emotionally universal and touching as they are weird and specific in detail, "Pathetic" sure works as an anthem, and "I'm Around" actually sort of frightens me and probably drops the album a few ranks from where it belongs. The lesson being, don't judge a band on their stupid name, even if, like me, you're in favor of the stupid name.” – Brian Block

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE

“The local ensemble Jesus H Christ and the Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse has a crusading horn section, some fine guitar playing, and a growing catalogue of sharply satirical power pop. Having made a splash on the Internet and satellite radio two years ago with the sparkling ditty “Connecticut’s for Fucking” and a self-titled album, the group has a new album of prickly songs, “Happier Than You.”

75 OR LESS.com

“Imagine that Sarah Silverman never decided that saying "fuck" and shocking people was clever, and it actually made her funnier. And then while working on Mr. Show, Jack Black played her a Tenacious D demo and she decided to steal the idea and rework it as horn-laden power pop. That's basically what we've got here, and it is fantastic. Any album that teaches me a new song to sing for my 2 year-old, including the lyric "Like an anorexic needs self-esteem/you gotta have a dream" ...well, that's a winner.”

MSN.COM INSIDE MUSIC.

“Remember Lina Lamont in "Singin' in the Rain"? Imagine a woman who sings the way she talks -- only she can carry a tune and use her brain. Most guys consider her affected, but therapy has taught her that that voice is just part of who she is, like her insecurities, and she copes with both. Mostly in the first person, she explores characters like the compulsively obliging half-Broadway chameleon she is, even a guy once. She's manipulative in "Back Burner Guy," desperate in "I'm Around," over it in "I Miss Your Arm," not actually over it in "I Hope You're Happy" post-celibate in "Dry Spell": "Suddenly she feels pretty/Suddenly she feels young/Suddenly her neighbor on the co-op board is not wrong." If you have a heart, you'll wish her the best.”

MY CRAZY MUSIC BLOG

“Perhaps more intimidating than Jesus H. Christ and the Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse's portentous name is the collective musical experience represented by the approximately 8+ piece band, and as a reviewer I hesitate to attempt an adequate description of the ribald intelligence clearly manifest when musicians who have played with artists from Prince to Elton John join others who include Broadway performers, a recipient of the Pushcart Prize and the author of the book Taxi Driver Wisdom. The seemingly incongrous list of descriptors that the band offers on their website, featuring more nouns like "compassion fatigue, boobs, Old Lyme, and widower-lust" than typical promotional adjectives, implies both their winking sense of humor and allusive creativity. Happier Than You is accordingly flippant yet shrewd; too burlesque to be severe, yet too smart to be trivial.

Much like the similarly theatrical World/Inferno Friendship Society, the acronymically daunting JHC&TFHotA creates a specific band identity and internal culture comprising idiosyncratic narrative vignettes. Songs like album opener "Liz the Hot Receptionist" work in part because listeners recognize the stereotype of the attractive secretary who buys Sudoku on her way to work and eventually marries a real-estate agent. "Alcoholics in my Town" collates various personalities affected by the titular habit before chorusing across brands of liquor and ending in some of the most sardonic "ba-ba-ba's" this side of the But I'm a Cheerleader soundtrack. Most songs present their subjects through this satirical lens, either advocating "a brand new surfing sensation/for the sedentary generation" on "Vanity Surfin'" or celebrating the simple fact that a formerly celibate woman was finally able to "get her rocks off" on closer "Dry Spell." Even the album's most overtly self-loathing track, "Pathetic," lampoons its piteous narrator with mock questions like "Do you hate me for asking if you hate me?

Yet, all the derisive witticisms of a late George Carlin act may not always constitute a successful music album, and fortunately JHC&TFHotA supports its lyrical acumen with rousing horns and a powerfully voiced female vocalist who leads the whole procession as if they were in turn helping her lure a cartoon wolf listening with his tongue on the floor. The trumpets and trombones accent rhythmic guitar work that transforms styles between bouncing ska riffs, punk distortion and a little bit of surf, while pedal steels, upright basses, and the sound of tap dancing all add to the carnivalesque atmosphere. At times I was left hoping that some bittersweet moments had been extended further, such as those slightly melancholy details mentioned at the beginning of "Liz the Hot Receptionist," and occasionally the band's irreverent personality seem lacking in sympathy for the characters it creates. The searching specificity of these comments, however, indicates how rapidly this collection of talent has then realized its singular identity.”

THE NEWS OBSERVER (CHARLOTTE, N.C.)

“Most of us pass through this vale of tears whipsawing between rage and despair at the annoying dreck on display around us. Brothers and sisters, Risa Mickenberg feels your pain. Her group's second album is another fabulous collection of punchline pop -- theatrical, funny, catchy and most of all smart. From the titular subject of "Liz the Hot Receptionist" to the self-esteem-deprived loser in "Pathetic," you know these people -- or you are these people.- David Menconi

SANTA FE NEW MEXICAN

"This is a poppy little New York group with, yes, four hornsmen (trumpet, sax, and two trombones) and an amazing singer, Risa Mickenberg, who has a sexy, nasally voice and a nicely skewed outlook on love, life, and people we all know.

The album starts out with a song about a character that office workers around the world will recognize: "Liz, the Hot Receptionist." ("She never got promoted/Always wondered why/Her desk was by the printer: easy to stop by.")

Mickenberg sings about the type of relationship that rarely makes it to song in "Back Burner Guy." It's about a man she wants around to "talk about music, talk about art" and have in case her real relationship falls through. "As long as I know you lust after me/I can be the girl he wants me to be," she happily chirps.
Another favorite is "Alcoholics in My Town" sung by Mickenberg and band mate Joel Shelton. It's a folk/rocky little tune about the sad but lovable town drunks they know. Mickenberg and Shelton also share vocals on "Vanity Surfing," which is about Googling yourself on the Internet. (”It’s a special kind of masturbation,” Shelton sings.”)

I hope they Google this." - Steve Terrell

DUKE OF STRAW
“Not only do Jesus H Christ And The Four Hornsmen Of The Apocalypse have one of the best bands names in music today, they also make a kind of music no one else is performing. Let’s call it: Ska-mical (part ska, part comedy).

Their songs are humorous in nature and have a strong horn presence. The powerchord guitars are nicely distorted. And they use the whole band for backup vocals.

Their new album is called “Happier Than You” and has 13 lucky tracks. They may have gained some interest with their song “Connecticut’s For Fucking” but this new album proves they are more than just a one-of novelty band.”

SPIN MAGAZINE- SONGS TO DOWNLOAD NOW: Alcoholics in my town

BEST ALBUMS OF 2008
CHUCK EDDY- RHAPSODY BLOG

DR. DEMENTO YEAR END COMPILATION ALBUM: Vanity Surfin'

REVIEWS FOR DEBUT SELF-TITLED CD

"Irreverent and hilarious."- NPR All Songs Considered

THE CRITICS ON JHC:

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE
Pop Notes: One of ten CDs of 2006 worth a second listen.
"This lovable local band transcends the novelty of its name with wry, thundering power-pop songs about such previously underexplored subjects as the boredom of living in the Constitution State (Connecticut Is for Fucking), the appeal of the recently widowed (Do Me), and how pharmaceuticals can help love (Happy Me)."

THE VILLAGE VOICE – ROBERT CHRISTGAU, Dean of American Rock Critics: Consumer Guide- Pick hits
"Risa Mickenberg writes and sings satirical theater songs accompanied by g-b-d-and-sometimes-k, two trumpets, and two trombones. All assume the p.o.v. of a neurotic young professional woman—loan officer, publicist, social planner, perhaps even actress—who may be Risa Mickenberg. Some of these songs are funny, the rest very funny. "Connecticut's for F*cking" seems self-explanatory, "Ellen's Bicoastal" cl*se enough; "Happy Me" is about falling in love on meds, "Vampire Girls" about sucking knowledge from your boyfriends. The jewel is the jealous fit "Obviously"—"I don't care. I mean I think she's a skank, but whatever, I don't care. I just don't see why you're denying it when it's obvious you two slept together .

NO DEPRESSION MAGAZINE - David Menconi:
"Picture NRBQ with a metallic pop edge and an expanded horn section, fronted by a singer who looks a bit like Julia Louis Dreyfus, sounds a bit like Sarah Vowell and writes a bit like Amy Rigby only much nastier. There you have this wonderful New York band, who will completely rock your world. Risa Mickenberg and Joel Sheltons songs are side-splittingly funny, starting with Connecticuts For Fucking (because its a place where thats all there is to do) and its turn-on-a-dime shifts between metallic snarl and acoustic jingle-jangle. Happy Me cops the Beatles Nowhere Man guitar riff for a bridge. Vampire Girls rollcalls the slyest geek-culture hall of fame this side of High Fidelity. And weve had great fun in my social circle debating which acquaintance is most like the shrewish hellion in Obviously. Best of all, the music holds up after the laughter subsides."

IDOALTOR.COM - Brian Block:
#3 BEST ALBUM of 2006 "Jesus H. Christ and the Four Horsemen (sic) of the Apocalypse, who make sure to title their first song "Connecticut's for Fucking" lest anyone mistake them for Christian rock, have learned their trade from Revolver, garage-rock, jangle-pop, synth-pop, performance art, and apparently "Girl from Ipanema". Because all of their songs are funny, and because the two funniest have over-the-top spoken-word vocals that I'd feel nervous about putting on a mixtape for frequent replay, it took me awhile to recognize their debut album as truly brilliant. But if suburban ennui can be art in the hands of the Stooges or the Replacements, if relationship dysfunction is a good enough topic for Bob Dylan or Big Star, if Lou Reed and the Rolling Stones are allowed to complain about weird girls and Talking Heads to celebrate the quirks of American culture, I see no reason why JHC&4HotA can't win awe for doing all the above while being just as emotionally on-target _and_, at the same time, as ridiculous as we know (in our wiser moments) the emotions themselves are."

POP MATTERS - Jason MacNeil:
"JHC&TFHotA are an odd blend of Sixpence None the Richer, Arcade Fire, and New Pornographers if they were all fronted by Amy Sedaris. “Connecticut’s for Fucking” is a hard-the-soft-then-hard power pop tune that talks about the Nutmeg State with sweet, sugary harmonies in the chorus as she simulates what Robin Williams once described as “the bone dance”. “Happy Me” is a somewhat tamer pop tune with Risa Mickenburg on reedy lead vocals, and Mickenburg nails the conversational and brassy rocker “Obviously” with a Lou Reed-like charm. A lot of the songs would be great on Desperate Housewives, particularly the opportunistic and cheery “Do Me”. ... The summer-sounding pop of “Vicki Is a Pro” is great, resembling a cross between the Cars and the Go-Gos. Ditto for the fabulous “It’s OK in the USA”. “Vampire Girls” name-drops Syd Barrett, Tiny Tim, Malcolm X, and others while the punk riffs blend with horns. Another highlight is the rather mainstream bubblegum pop of “Ellen’s Bi Coastal”. “Steve Baylor” has to be one of the oddest, Zappa-like tracks of the year, and “Nipples” is a modern day hit the Turtles failed to get around to."

THE VILLAGE VOICE - George Smith :
"An eight-person horn-fired local group making glorious hard pop!" “Hammering punkarama, namechecking Saul Bellow, Philip K. Dick, and Jerry Lewis.” “Horns and guitar drive a tank made of suntanned California riff right out of the speakers.”

TROUSER PRESS - Founder Ira Robbins:
"...Sardonic adult humor in music is amply illustrated by this entertaining New York octet (half of it being the Four Hornsmen, who add to, without ever overwhelming, the simple rock music with brass). Delivered in Risa Mickenberg's winning matter-of-fact voice, "Connecticut's for F*cking" is hysterical, a deadly putdown of the Nutmeg State as a nadir of middle-class tedium that proffers copulation as the only entertaining alternative. And "Vampire Girls," which passingly sounds like the Replacements' "I Don't Know," explodes the little-known problem of women "who seem like they're really cool until you realize that everything that's cool about them is something they sucked out of their ex-boyfriends" with a laundry list of modern-trendy Henry Higgins acquisitions, from Balzac to Karen Black, Iggy Pop to Photoshop...

TUCSON WEEKLY - Linda Ray:
""In a perfect world, this would be the Saturday Night Live house band, and reason enough to start watching Saturday Night Live again…Very smart, very fun, vodka gimlet-eyed music... If you read and loved A Confederacy of Dunces or A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, this record is for you. This is not loud, mad music, though, nor is it as frivolously confrontational as the band name, or the equally stupid cover art. Rather, it's a collection of intelligently observant and wryly amusing pop/rock/punk takes on gender politics (read: sex and its complications), the state of the United States (especially Connecticut) and certain everyday characters and their quirks. All are set in fine musicianship, with Brian Wilson-worthy harmonies and imaginative arrangements. (The timely entry of horns on "Do Me" made me laugh out loud.) Lead singer Risa Mickenberg's voice is peculiar in a way that's perfectly suited to the lyrics, all written by Mickenberg with guitarist/vocalist Joel Shelton. Favorite track: "Vampire Girls"--fascinating women who only know what ex-boyfriends taught them about."

HARP MAGAZINE - Chuck Eddy (Former Village Voice Music Editor):
"These brassy and Broadway-connected New Yorkers are as much 'cabaret' as 'rock' but Risa Mickenberg has a voice both sweeter and sourer than 'cabaret' implies. and a sense of humor too. "She's a Six" (math rock, or at least decimal point rock, argues that if you want to be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife); "Nipples" (funnier than the Holy Modal Rounders' "Boobs a Lot," and as great a song about summer as it is a song about breasts); "Do Me" (about wanting to have sex with a guy whose wife just died, like Michael Hurley and the Unholy Modal Rounders' "Jeanlous Daddy's Death Song" only backwards): "Connecticut's For F*cking"; "Vampire Girls"; "Ellen's Bicoastal." Plus "Crazy Guy," a samba song that starts out as be-bop.”

THE BOSTON HERALD: "Hilarious!" "Deadpan!" "Love!" "Nervy and mighty amusing!"

PHOENIX NEW TIMES: Pick Of The Week Nikki D'Andrea-
"Once you've heard "Connecticut's for Fucking," the leadoff track to JHC&tFHotA's debut album, there's no denying this band's snarky brilliance. The song's ridiculously catchy pop beat; dorky, nasal punk vocals (courtesy of the surprisingly sexy Risa Mickenberg); and lampooning of noodling '80s metal guitar solos is like a bubblegum enema flushing pop punk out of mainstream music's bloated colon."

THE NEWS OBSERVER (Raleigh, Chapel Hill, NC)
“The comedy record of the year, with side-splitting musings on life, love and the pursuit of happiness set to razor-sharp bar-band pop-rock. It's smart, it's catchy, the music is great.” NEW YORK MAGAZINE: "Smart, catchy power pop!" F5 WICHITA Tom Hull- : "Anyone who fondly remembers the Waitresses will have a leg up on this smart, funny, and exuberantly horny band. Not sure whether the difference is a generation of progress in spite of backlash or just that lead singer Risa Mickenberg writes her own lines. Her critique of "Vampire Girls" is spot on, like she's been one and graduated to being interesting in her own right."

PITCHFORK
Delivering uneasy laughs at the expense of strip-mall culture alongside power chords and pop hooks, "Connecticut's for Fucking", by the New York outfit JHC&tFHotA could easily have been a hipster insider's mean-spirited and elitist satire of yokel outsiders. Instead it comes across as something much more complicated than simply making fun of people who aren't from New York. Sounding a little like Amy Sedaris fronting Fountains of Wayne, Risa Mickenberg (who's the Jesus H. Christ part of the name, although there seem to be more than four others in the band, not all on horns) sings from the perspective of one of many teenagers whose only pastime in such a dull state is recreational sex. She delivers lines like "I love to listen to classic rock and have sex with you" with a mix of playfulness and resignation, and introduces a little gravity into the band's humor: all those adolescents, she observes, are "waitin' to turn into the people we are bound to turn into." There's a healthy dose of incisive class commentary as well: "If we can't afford to buy antiques," she sings, "then we just copulate." "Connecticut's for Fucking" sounds more substantial than a novelty track, but with all the catchy fun that label implies.

HARTFORD COURANT (COURANT.COM) – Eric Danton
"The lyrics and subject matter are off-kilter, but they're mostly smart and, to my ears, pretty funny, and the musicians have serious chops. And, as the band's name implies, there's plenty of dizzying horn work on the album, mixed with pounding bass and snarling punk guitar riffs. (The album) also features songs about anti-depressants, seducing the bereaved and psychic vampires: "Girls who seem like they're really cool until you realize everything that's cool about them is something they sucked out of their ex-boyfriends," be it how to fix cars or appreciating the music of Syd Barrett.” The News Observer(Raleigh, Chapel Hill, NC) “The comedy record of the year, with side-splitting musings on life, love and the pursuit of happiness set to razor-sharp bar-band pop-rock. It's smart, it's catchy, the music is great.”

NEW YORK MAGAZINE: "Smart, catchy power pop!"

F5 WICHITA - Tom Hull:
"Anyone who fondly remembers the Waitresses will have a leg up on this smart, funny, and exuberantly horny band. Not sure whether the difference is a generation of progress in spite of backlash or just that lead singer Risa Mickenberg writes her own lines. Her critique of "Vampire Girls" is spot on, like she's been one and graduated to being interesting in her own right." The Boston Globe: “The most raunchy fun!” Don Wilding- The Cape Codder: "Like Zappa, they'll shock a certain percentage of the population - and absolutely delight the rest of it."

TIME OUT NEW YORK: (STARRED REVIEW)
“Not just a carpenter and a compassionate religious icon, Jesus H Christ is also a novelty-pop band fronted by the delightfully baby-voiced Risa Mickenberg who sings in sugar-sweet tones about being courted by the crazy guy down the street. Consider it the musical equivalent to Strangers With Candy.”

THE BOSTON METRO:
"Jesus H Christ and the Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse are hilarious!"

THE BOSCH:
"It's time to open your hearts to Jesus. Jesus H Christ, the totally awesome band...really does rock."

THE BOSTON PHOENIX:
"Amy Sedaris!" "Upscale!" "Sequined!" “Plenty of laughs!” “Bald!”

I GUESS I’M FLOATING:
"The happy spirited band from New York take humorous, albeit true, lyrics and weld them together with music that can only be classified as power pop. With a lead singer that may remind some of an adolescent Jenny Lewis, the band claim to be "bald, horny, thundering, glorious, deadly, lovable and sardonic!" The eight-person ensemble sings about leaching shallow girlfriends, the snags of living in Connecticut, synthetic feelings via prescription drugs, and the sex drives of widowhood. Go on, start your weekend off with a smile."

ELECTRIC TOMATOES.COM
“This is not your grandma and grandpa's apocalypse. It’s no fire and brimstone, no seventh seal, no swaths of unholy agony punctuated by blessed souls surfing pillars of light "up there." This is pure power-pop apocalypse (say that five times fast, but we’re not accountable if you pull a muscle in your tongue). Jesus H. Christ and the Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse write catchy, fun songs with plenty of trumpets. The most obvious comparison they invite is to They Might Be Giants but they also make me think of a Beulah and Nerf Herder hybrid running on unleaded petroleum goofiness. The bands real strength is in their lyrics, which deal with topics you'd never hear on the radio. (Though lets not forget trumpets, who doesn't love trumpets?) “Connecticut Is for Fucking” is an anthem for people in Dullsville, Anywhere and “Nipples,” in addition to being a great summery song, makes me think of the novelty classic “Boobs a Lot.” Check out the band's MySpace, and at your earliest convenience, start loving them.”

TIMES OF ACADIANA CHOICE CUTS
"Admittedly, Risa Mickenberg's and Joel Shelton's funny, sardonic, catchy songs cover a narrow terrain -- call it the romantic complications of the Ritalin generation, a demographic cut loose from traditional moorings and for whom psychotropic opiates are the religion of the people -- but, Jesus H. Christ, do they understand their characters! Whether speaking for or at beer-leech women (Vampire Girls, Crazy Guy, Vicki Is a Pro) or a man who's lowering his standards (She's a Six), Mickenberg/Shelton's lyrics are detailed enough for accuracy while stopping just short of the "compassion fatigue" they sympathize with in It's OK in the USA. Some Days is even sweet, with the songs accompanied by brass suggesting musical affinities from three or four decades before lyrics like these would've ever been imagined let alone tolerated."

PAPER THIN WALLS
"You’ll be hearing (Connecticut's For F*cking) for the next 50 years on various Demento and Son Of Demento compilations and podcasts; but not only is it funny funny funny, the band takes care of the music, too: a great rattletrap of a guitar doing fast Ramones chords and then laying a big wet tuneful Johnny Thunders solo atop it all. Tracks.. twist the comedy from funniness to genuine emotion and rage. Most moving is "Obviously," Risa bitching out a lover—“You guys obviously slept together, not that I care; I mean, I think she’s a skank; but whatever"—which leads to a general smorgasbord of bitching: "Why do you have to drive like an asshole? You have to drive, like, right up on the person in front of you’s ass; they slam on their brakes, you’re dead!" She lets loose with the disappointment and fury that’s the undertone of this humor, when life doesn't live up to its billing."

SOME BLOG SOMEWHERE:
"The most delightfully salacious female vocalist since Sippie Wallace."

” THE CAPE CODDER- Don Wilder:
"Like Zappa, they'll shock a certain percentage of the population - and absolutely delight the rest of it."

LEICESTERBANGS (U.K.):
"Like asparagus, olives, Zappa and cum, Jesus H Christ are an acquired taste."

Debut CD YEAR END ACCOLADES:
#246 CD Village Voice Pazz and Jop Poll
# 249 CD Idolator Year End Poll
#1 most requested song for more weeks than any song in the history of Sirius Alt Nation
#4 CD of the year (Phoenix New Times- Nikki Andrea)
#6 CD of the year (Seattle Times/Village Voice- Brian Block)
#16 CD of the year (F5 Witchitaw KS- Tom Hull)
#4 CD of the year (Village Voice George Smith)
#6 CD of the year KPFK Los Angeles
#8 song of the year (Sirius Alt Nation)
#1 song of the year CJIQ- Kitcheners