Mr. Tube and the Flying Objects - Listen Up

Genre rock Publisher Sweet Nothing/Cargo Records External Links Official Mr. Tube Website Official Cargo Records Website

If you close your eyes and dream hard while listening to the debut by Mr. Tube and the Flying Objects, one can almost imagine Tom Waits' fingers moving the marionettes to produce the fractured music on Listen Up. Almost.

True, it is decidedly unique music, but further listens drive the point home that this isn't Tom Waits (it's closer to the Black Heart Procession). That's right! After a while, the saunter comes through and then you read deeper into the convoluted storyline of how Mr. Tube is a spin off of Paul Zappoli, aka Pall Jenkins of said reminiscent band. With everything making perfect sense now, it's easy to see that Mr. Tube is a stranger version of the Black Heart Procession, albeit one with more saxophone and a Latin bend.

Listen Up's songs feature a warbling beat that is signature to the Procession, but what sets it apart is the supposed upbeat tempo (at least a little lighter than the originating band) and the occasional merging of their brand of indie rock with Mexican influences. "Jesus was a Vato" could have fallen from a Latin Playboys album.

"Brothers in a Bind" is the clear stand out track here, the heavy beat and the slightly out of tune guitars driving the song with the fat sax sound to give a new take on funk. "Put Me on Your Backside" follows the same structure, but with a more pronounced warbling guitar, like a slide constantly moving back and forth evoking Waits.

The album peters out towards the end, but it's a solid effort and any fan of the bands mentioned in the review will surely find something they enjoy, no matter how hard you want to imagine it's someone else presenting you the music.