Critic's Notebook

Dick Taut and The Ripcords

There's one thing certain about Dick Taut and The Ripcords, a whatever-they-feel-like-playing ensemble with members culled from various parts of the Midwest: You never know what goofball lyrics will come out of the piehole of lead singer Dick Taut, a.k.a. Elijah Billington. The group's latest release, with 15 tracks of...
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There’s one thing certain about Dick Taut and The Ripcords, a whatever-they-feel-like-playing ensemble with members culled from various parts of the Midwest: You never know what goofball lyrics will come out of the piehole of lead singer Dick Taut, a.k.a. Elijah Billington. The group’s latest release, with 15 tracks of enjoyable nonsense, features sprinkles of just about everything, including ’80s rap, disjointed acoustic, glitchy techno, and hard-ish rock. The band has grown up a bit from previous releases, in which they chronicled a specific character in the so-and-so “does bong” series. Now, famous athletes — such as ex-NBA high-flyer Julius Irving, the very dead bastard baseballer Ty Cobb, and former dual sports star Bo Jackson — are immortalized in various “sniffs glue” renditions. Dick Taut covers the NHL tip with “Wayne Gretzky Murdered My Sister,” in which the hockey icon gets some, uh, love, with slide whistle licks and the choice lyrics, “Wayne Gretzky murdered Dracula . . . Wayne Gretzky murdered Gandhi . . . Wayne Gretzky murdered the Nazis.” Whether they like it or not, this band will probably forever remain an enigma.

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