Puscifer - 'V is For Vagina'

[The led only makes sense if you've read Collegian.]

If you’ve ever read CAKE, then you know inside jokes don’t always go over well with people outside the loop. You had to be there. Like when CAKE pulls all those Ghostbusters jokes. Really? That movie is over 20 years old, and is perhaps only known for killing the careers of Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis before they had a chance to shine. Only Ernie Hudson (Winston!) went on to enjoy a full career in films like The Crow, Congo and, uh, Ghostbusters II.

Anyway, V is for Vagina, the new album from Tool’s Maynard James Keenan (under the name Puscifer), is somewhat of an inside joke as well. Musically, it’s electronically groovy, like if Nine Inch Nails only wrote sexy songs. The album is stuffed with adequate beats and grinding guitars for dancing. But lyrically, it’s clear that Keenan is just messing around, pursuing lighter topics in an effort to preserve his sanity whilst trying to write another Tool album, which we can expect in the spring of 2011.

But even as a joke, V is for Vagina grows tedious. The rampant sexual imagery at times is more sexist than loving (“This lovely lady got the thickness,” “Show you the difference between my gun and my pistol,” and so on and so forth), which is sure to leave many a Tool/Perfect Circle fan feeling a tad uncomfortable.

Not all of the songs are inappropriate like that, however. “Indigo Children” boasts a sick industrial sound and lyrics that turn down the sexism and turn up the impressionism. The piano closer “Rev. 22:20 (Dry Martini Mix)” ends the album on a plaintive note, and is perhaps the best litmus test for whether or not you should buy the record. If you already knew that another remix of “Rev. 22:20” appeared on the Underworld soundtrack (or that “The Undertaker” was on the Underworld: Evolution soundtrack), congratulations, grab some Puscifer.

Puscifer might grab a laugh among Tool fans, who might find the record funny-bad, but for most V is for Vagina will most likely come off as bad-bad. Still, it makes for decent background music, even if it’s no better for gender roles than, say 50 Cent’s “Candy Shop” or Kanye West’s “Stronger.” Just don’t take Keenan too seriously this time around.