Chixdiggit - Pink Razors

by Daniel Cressey

published: 19 / 4 / 2005

Label: Fat Wreck Chords
Format: CD

Catchy, inanely fine pop punk from Canadian punks Chixdiggit ! back after a four year hiatus, and which includes its own director’s commentary

Review

After a four year hiatus, Canadian punks Chixdiggit! return with an album featuring perhaps the most important development that music fans will have encountered so far this century – the director’s commentary. The songs themselves are catchy punk-rock gems, none-too threatening and all very tuneful. But the commentary is a work of genius. Adopted from modern DVD releases where the director and producer talk over the top of their film, attempting to convince themselves that they’re not really very boring obsessives, Chixdiggit! have taken it to a whole new level and actually made a commentary interesting. Hidden at the end of Pink Razors is one track featuring the whole album with the band commenting on the significance and merit of each track. While DVD commentaries are generally tedious (with the notable exception of Schwarzenegger’s hilarious “Und now I get ze big sword” dub of Conan) having a bunch of Canadian punks chatter inanely over an album that is pretty inane anyway is actually a pleasure. This is a very inane album. Opening track ‘Welcome to the Daiso’ is about shopping at discount supermarkets – “No-one believes when I tell what I see; for two dollars you can get good quality.” Standout track ‘You’re Pretty Good’ relates an aftershow encounter with a rather reserved fan - to whom they response “we’re awesome”. ‘I Remember You’ talks of a girlfriend’s best friend who hated the narrator. Even these mundane events are given a strange spin by the band though. The latter’s refrain runs “Could it be Christine; they removed more than your spleen.” It does go slack towards the latter half and it lacks the real passionate energy that makes a punk album truly great, but 'Pink Razors' is a fine piece of pop. If more bands decide to roll out director’s commentaries they’ll have something worthy to equal – in the music and the commentary.

Track Listing:-

1 Welcome To The Daiso
2 I Remember You
3 Get Down
4 You're Pretty Good
5 Geocities Kitty
6 J. Crew
7 Good Girls
8 Earthquake
9 Koo Stark
10 C.G.I.T.
11 Jimmy The Con
12 Paints Her Toenails
13 Nobody Understands Me