“Lethal Fairy Tales” by Fish Karma. One word: Definite. This album defines this generation of problems with wit and laughter. After taking the time to listen closely to the entire album, the very elaborate approach of the problems in today’s society are difficult to take, but Fish Karma and his comrades really take the “problem” out of these situations and makes the listener look at things with a more humorous perspective, and rightfully so.

The first track on the album “Lethal Fairy Tales” is a jab on the food industry taken straight out of the headlines, but one can hear that it’s not just one problem. The lyrics in the song that were exceptionally thought provoking were: “Gathering the toxic crop, looks like a record yield They’re processed and modified, according to regional tastes, They’re packaged in attractive jars, with suggested sell-by dates”—song in its entirety speaks of how society is programmed by not only the food, but how it is packaged to make it look/taste/sound like something is new and different. This is a reflection of everyday life. This song is captivating because it is a powerful suggestion to actually question the surrounding industries about how people make their choices starting with the food they eat. Question what you eat first and foremost. Do you consume it because of how it’s sold in the package? This is not just about food, but what other elements are consumed.

“American” is a brilliant look the politics that is shaping America and this one packed a punch that practically redefined Hemingway’s metaphor, “the knuckle sandwich”--- No Joke, here! This song has many lines in it that makes the listener think twice about the political realm. Though there is a lot covered in this song that’s quite satirical, the lines that make the eyebrows go up is “Muslims in the White House What a shame! Public school abortions, Who’s to blame? What happened to the fake country that I knew from all the television shows that I viewed?” The entire song makes fun of the American culture from the education system, the environment, the technological culture of iPod and Ipad and the anticipation of what else? The iDrone. Truly, this song takes satire to a whole, other level and will have the listener both laughing and thinking throughout the entire performance. It is absolutely accessible to the ear and shocking to the mind, as it brings to the attention the absurdities of the things people do in day-to-day life to try and make things better for the environment, education, and throws jabs at politicians calling them the “Well-paid puppets who hold me in thrall, to butchers as I pledge my heart and my vote”… absolute truth and hilarity. Amazing rhetoric with a punch in the face and much more.

The track that keeps the listener going on this musical journey is “Ock U Pyd” which is about the “Occupy movement” that has been engaging people and media alike throughout the U.S. The protest against Wall Street is the first event that comes to mind. The lines that are core-gripping here are, “Despite the bruises they receive, they’re unwilling to believe The self-evident truths they learned about in school are just employed to conceal the use of more traditional tools” These are very profound, well-thought out lyrics that should be seriously considered when listening, mind you, my reader, this is just the juice, when listening to the whole song, there is a whole other course of morsels to chew on while listening to this song and many more on this compilation. Inevitably, this song, cannot be avoided when listening to the powerful suggestions of what it means to be rebellious and to win one’s self-respect and not let the establishment tell you what your choices should be.

While listening to “Swimming in the Homeland” this sounded a lot like a satire of how today’s pop stars are idolized to the point of subtly insinuating the excitement of a wet dream. Literally, this song describes how pop stars try to be do-gooders in the world by talking about today’s societal foibles, but also how the spectator feels like the favor is returned by having a fantasy fulfilled. “He plays his last song, the curtains part, and she finally appears In a tailored uniform that is near sheer I can’t breathe, my eyes are filled with tears, my heart pounds like a volkssturmgewehr. I feel the need to invade Poland from the rear”—She talks about problems facing our great nation, the need to cut entitlements and the nightmare of immigration…” this song really gets the listener to think and question what makes idols what they are and asks the listener to question the media and entertainment industries about how far they go to build that idol and distract the American public from what is really going on in the world around them. Swimming in the Homeland has an amazing approach to this question via humor, however, there is arguably no other way to get the listener to really sharpen such a very fine line in perspective.

The bombastic “Heavy Metal Jowls” was another musical adventure from the get-go. “Imitations of a meditated past The kinescoped emissions are still twitching in the grass, The urban myths conjoined to vetted social constructs, then licensed fetishes and other useful products” Literally, Fish Karma lets no one down with his zingers and lines that just ring in a person’s ears and with this song, it seems like there is no exception. This one gave the impression of heavy metal has-beens trying to find their scream, again. It was too hard to resist the chuckle in this one as there have been quite a number of acts trying to make a comeback but can’t seem to get the same kind of magnitude as they probably did over thirty years ago. Chances are, this song sounds like this is the sharp observation made. Very fitting and very funny, too.

“The Future of Textiles” has some great musical moments especially in the phrase “the hanged man returns from his celebrated fall clutching a piñata to help conceal his shame…” This was a morsel that was hard to miss, though every part of this song had so much to say. This one speaks of how, we make that effort to save face from a fall. Another poetic and musical phrase was “And all I smell is the smoke from the burning grease and all I touch are the extensions of machines and all I feel is the absence of bees”—these lyrics sound like they are satirizing the industrial aspect of our lives, as well as the moments we’d like to forget. This is somewhat reminding of the more embarrassing moments we find posted on the web of ourselves. The content of this song has multiple themes, but what struck most is these two phrases because today, we are an entity that is addicted to the machine and depend on it to create and destroy images of ourselves and those of others.

“Meanwhile, Back at the FEMA Camp” has a certain genius to it and FK and Crew practically nailed it. It talks a lot about the mundaneness of life and the things we allow ourselves to get used to. The entire song devotes to how the human being conditions itself to allow the most insidious and annoying things it allows into its senses, environment and element in order to ‘settle’ and live with to make life bearable, or even livable. “You’ll get used to the sounds you hear coming through your window every night the repetition dulls the fears they could incite but if by chance they are still causing you to feel dismay; Turn your DVR and watch all the shows you missed today” This is just one example of what the song contains, but this in itself, says a lot and shows the listener how just how easy it is to develop a comfort zone with just a touch of a button. The entire song is so very well-put and taking a step back and listening, one can find the humor, but also that underlying truth which is the source of that humor.

“A Toast” is a track about life, in the beginning of the song, it talks about a man who is falling on the ground to his death and three bankers make a wager on his life, while vultures circulate above the corpse. The entire song talks about hypocrisy, especially the lines of “But oh, I wish you all the best, I drink to your health, I hope your hard work pays off”—This piece one that flows like poetry. Because it represents the biting grit of this human hypocrisy and jealousy, to wish people well, but the inner hope for them to fail, too.

The fun and every witty “Play This Song” is a satire about the perspective of music. In a way, it's like going back to Plato's theory about how the blood is pumped based the kind of music people shape their lives to. The chorus of “the music is designed to incite young caucasians, with squeaky notes played on the E String and double bass drums, and lots of stupid barre chordsto get your fists pumping we make sure htat the bass doesn't sound too urban...” Listening to this track brought me some delicious confusion as to the direction it was going, but altogether, the song fit perfectly and yet again, left me with another delectable moment to think about, which is another way to look at music and how to approach it, also by thinking about how thoughts are shaped so easily by it.

The final song on the album was “Shabbos Goy” and this was a musical adventure in every positive way possible. It though, describes a general person in a mundane existence, this song reminds me of Descartes's theory of how people program themselves to everyday routine (parts of Cartesian dualism) “He is just a shabbos goy, a hollow implement employed, turning lights on and off all day...folding clothes, putting dishes away, another gentile with a broom alone in a crowded room lacking even a coffee spoon to measure out the day...”

The overall musical content really was like a sound that seeped in and a mood that passes through, with colorful twists and turns. There was nothing that overwhelmed the lyrical content, but instead had an amazing synchonicity to the message of the album. By far, the most original material and very funny to go with that. The overall message is, should you allow yourself to be sucked in to the mundane existence and vapidness of routine, your thoughts will never be your own. Such social problems mentioned can be talked about, but the point is, if approached with laughter, the barriers are broken and the floor is open for discussion. Fish Karma's humor is definite and very much when listening, opens the listener to understand exactly what is the comfort zone and with humor, how to escape confinement of it and define you for yourself.