Colleen Green
Milo Goes to Compton
Art Fag [2012]
It's a great time to be a solo lo-fi indie artist. You don't need originality, you don't need real song writing skills, and as long as some new hip label decides to pick you and your drum machine up, you're golden. I really wanted to like this record, and I'm sure Colleen Green is a nice young lady, but there are too many things that irk me about this entire project. Firstly, when you cover a band it's an awful idea to include the cover song on an album and even more of a failure to include it as the first track. Sure, you may attract someone who will only drop the needle on the first track and say "Wow, Colleen Green's minimalist cover of "Good Good Things" by Descendents is awesome!" but the reality is that you are now fucking with one of my favorite groups. To add to that disappointment, the album is called Milo Goes to Compton. The only reason there should ever exist a record with that title is the day that Milo Aukerman makes the executive decision to release a Descendents tribute to 90's gangsta rap. And trust me, as great as you think that sounds, it's not happening soon and if it did the group would more than likely disband over it. The rest of this LP has its moments, but even two tracks in you find ANOTHER homage to a classic American punk band with "I Wanna Be Degraded". Guess what that's in reference to. It's albums like this that make me feel like a real dickhead about music and that's something I try tediously not to be while checking out new records (regardless of how much more difficult it seems to get with each passing day). I'm not doubting that Ms. Green has talent, I just wish it was better managed. Decent skills, good non-tribute tracks, horrible umbrella of concepts. I won't turn my back on Colleen Green, but damn it, this is something I'd expect on a mixtape from a fleeting high school crush.
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