John Tole - Reign in Laughs (CD)
$14.99
Here’s the thing. I’m breaking the fourth wall. I’m Stand Up! Records’ copy writer, and I listened to John Tole’s first hour-length CD, “Reign in Laughs,” and I dutifully took my notes. I digested his quiet shout-outs to his metalhead roots (if you missed the Slayer reference in the title, you might get taken off the SUR mailing list, just know that), I laughed at everything that felt like a page out of Big Brother Magazine ca. 1997, and then I typed, “reminds me of label mates Robert Kelly and Ari Shaffir, maybe a little like one of the Altercation Punk Comedy Tour guys.” And then I looked up his bio. Guess who he tours with? Yup. I’m really good at this.
And you know who else is good at their job? John Tole. Heavily tattooed but light hearted, Tole somehow saunters onto stage with some of the raunchiest material out there, mocks himself and everyone else, and makes at least a bakers’ dozen references to the appearance of female genitalia in yoga pants (this is really the only way we’re getting this past the album description censors), but still brings everyone together with a group impersonation and a Stephen Hawking joke he once told in front of Stephen Hawking without breaking the space-time continuum. John Tole is like a magical goddamned unicorn beast powered by Motorhead, mixed with a little Eddie Gossling and Jerry Rocha, and we can’t wait to start getting all of those angry letters and postcards he tells you to send directly to our world headquarters. Your buttons will be pushed, your assumptions will be questioned, and your PC meter will break. It’s about then that Tole’s got you right where he wants you.
Track Listing
- Raining Laughs
- Disciples of the Watch OBEY
- Piranhaha
- Brainwashed
- Hello from the Gutter
- Seek and Destroy
- Ekojnikufesin (N.F.J.)
- Calling in the Coroner
- Mind Eraser
- Real Eyes Realize Real Lies
- PST 88
- Track Listing
- Money
- Dominos
- Dog
- Choice
- Marriage
- Bears
- Sex
- McDonald's
- Vehicular
- Rental
- Subway