JOHN & KEN

JOHN & KEN
Originally uploaded by davecobb.

bearpiper and his partner Ken are visiting from Seattle for the weekend, so fidgetcub and I joined them for Ethiopian food tonight.

SUBURBAN SUBVERSION

Jason picked up the new DEV2.0 cd/dvd for me today (available only at Target 'til March 14th). I've always been a huge DEVO fan, so I've been excited -- and slightly nervous -- about this project ever since I heard about it earlier this year.

It turns out to be an inoffensive yet classy re-imagining of the original songs, conceived and produced entirely by the original guys. It's sort of like "Abba*Teens", but aimed at the children of art-school nerds. Or as the official DEVO website calls it: "DEV2.0 is a strange, Corporate-Feudal experiment that attempts to bring the original DEVO music sensibility to children in the 5 to 8 year old demographic range."

Alas, musically, the CD is just so-so. The songs are nearly identical to the original versions, except they're being performed by five 13-year-olds (two gals, three guys). Not great, but certainly not awful -- I mean, they are Devo songs, after all (the highlights: Big Mess... and two new songs!).

However, watching the DVD changed my opinion. The videos for all the songs are simple and refreshingly lo-tech, with some goofy animations thrown in for good measure. The interviews with the kids are charmingly clunky and unrehearsed, so they come off far more honest and "real" than the usual pre-packaged kid's band. They're not perky, hyperactive, over-directed "young pop stars", they're just normal, unaffected kids who like playing music and singing.

The end result is a disarmingly empowering, kid-positive album that encourages talent over image. And gets soccer-moms and their kids head-bobbing in their SUVs to the tunes of de-evolution.

Sneer all you want that it's just Disney (and Casale/Mothersbaugh) cashing in on the "Kidz Bop" craze, which really is the point, after all. But that makes it about as true to the de-evolutionary mantra of the original band as you can get.