When the music critics of ancient Babylon etched their musings in stone, they often found themselves hammering out the same tired lines about the same tired music. It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same, which is why we find ourselves today panning yet another lackluster “Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.” Today’s offender? Aqua Teen Hunger Force (ATHF).
If you’re not familiar with ATHF, then you don’t know there’s an ATHF movie, and subsequently, you don’t give a damn about the soundtrack that accompanies said film. So, feel free to turn the page when you hear the sound of Tinkerbell’s wand.
ATHF is yet another insta-cult animated series, this one following the random adventures of a milkshake, a meatball and a box of fries. The character mix alone is pretty compelling (oddly enough) and the show itself does a fairly commendable job of straddling the Ren & Stimpy line between esoteric and sophomoric.
Whatever one might think of ATHF’s leap to the silver screen, the soundtrack does nothing to compel you to plunk down the dough for the film. It serves merely as a trading card for the adoring fan who knows no limit to his or her ATHF love. Problem is, it’s not even a limited edition trading card – no shiny hologram, no piece of a jersey, no weird quirk to instill extra value. It is the trading card you find in every deck.
Sure, there are the occasional Master Shake skits, some of which elicit a ‘ha ha’ or two. And the collection of artists are decent enough – certainly a mix that the ATHF set will appreciate. Mastodon, Early Man, Killer Mike and Schoolly D all pass as the type of artists who can legitimize your product.
But the disc takes two steps forward and one step back when it includes a cut from Andrew W.K. (yet another “party” variant the world didn’t need); and an out-of-left-field track from The Hold Steady. One can only guess The Hold Steady signed on to this project before indie radio declared them the Messiah Du Jour. Which isn’t to say they are above this project or too good for it – it’s merely out of place.
