Required Listen: Body Parts

Considering how irreverent Body Parts seem to be on their seven track offering On Purpose, one has to hope and believe that the awful album art seen above is just an inside joke or a sarcastic comment on the over wrought retro album covers trend.  Either way, band names and album art mean nothing. It's all about the music and Los Angeles' Body Parts have offered up one of the more interesting, unique, and personality driven releases this year.

On Purpose comes at the listener from all directions and demands full attention as a song can turn on a dime or a new section of a song can pop up and then disappear as quickly as it was presented.  There is a cockiness with Body Parts that never once feels pretentious, rather the band sprinkles in the right amount distain, humor, and wit. It would be easy to label Body Parts as sarcastic assholes, and they are on this album, but it's a label bestowed on them as a compliment.  The band knows what they want to say and with most sarcasm or ironic meddling it can be taken the wrong way in the wrong hands.

For my tastes, Body Parts are exactly what a great indie rock band should be.  There is a playfulness that never once compromises intelligent songwriting.  In metaphor form, Body Parts are like a teenager having the time of their life reading Nabokov's Pale Fire and never apologizing for it.  I'm always attracted to bands who don't have any comparisons to other bands and after hearing On Purpose not a single other band comes to mind.  Body Parts are unique to themselves only.  The music is fun, difficult, humorous, ironic, playful, sad, introspective, and if you think up the word, probably that too.  I don't think Body Parts are even close to reaching their full potential and considering how much I enjoyed On Purpose, this band is definitely one to watch in the future.  While we wait for their masterpiece, enjoy one the better releases of 2011: On Purpose.