The Low Budgets - 'Leave Us a Loan'

Emerging from the corpse of Dead Milkmen come The Low Budgets, created by milk master Joe Jack Talcum and Chris Peelout of Town Managers. OK, granted, The Low Budgets’ new album Leave Us a Loan, comes like 12 years after Dead Milkmen broke up, but it’s kind of fitting given that Leave Us a Loan is all about being a broke slacker, eh? [I later found out this was their like 3rd release, so this sentence doesn't actually work.] It’s like a punk rock magicicada… that hates cops.

Leave Us a Loan is brimming with humor and dirty ’77 punk chops. Album opener “Asthma Attacker” kicks things off with a quick dirge of distorted guitar and screeching organ. Talcum’s keys give the songs a unique sound. Sort of like Blondie in that sense, but not really.

The humor of the album is best displayed by tracks like “Clark Park After Dark,” a mostly instrumental tune that concludes with this exchange:

“Hey, do you know how much money I made last year?”

“How much?”

“A hundred bucks.”

The pride inflected into that last line is what sells the joke. Another standout is “Wipe My Ass With the World.” It’s got a fairly standard dosage of punk snottiness (the world sucks). But when the chorus of “I wipe my ass with the world, yeah” spin kicks its way through the speakers, a supporting vocal of, “He wipes his ass with the world,” sung like a vaudevillian showtune, elevates it to an extreme level of catchiness.

The same could be said for “Beer Belly,” an ode to man’s best friend, the beer gut. It’s got one hell of a hook combined with an infectious guitar response, but is also quite silly. “B double E R, Be double L Y” goes the chorus. The song possesses a skewed sort of pop genius. The Low Budgets never take themselves too seriously, and it makes the whole album much more fun.

Leave Us a Loan will satisfy any fan of Dead Milkmen or Chunksaah Records, delivering in the vein of Sticks & Stones and Descendents. Snarky and fuzzed out, The Low Budgets stick it to the Man (“Fat Cop”), capitalism (“Plastic”) and, of course, the world in general (again, consider “Wipe My Ass With the World”).