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Those Darn Accordions!
There's something scary, stoopid, and just a little repulsive about a half-dozen accordionists who try to rock out on tunes about the dispossessed. Memorable odes on No Strings Attached, the latest disc by Those Darn Accordions!, describe our favorite Japanese sci-fi heroine ("Mothra"), a "pencil-headed peanut brain, too dumb to actually be insane" ("Citizen Contraire"), and an anti-hero of zany proportions ("Hamsterman"). The folks who serenaded us with wacky renditions of Hendrix's "Fire" and Grand Funk Railroad's "We're an (Accordion) Band," on last year's debut, Squeeze This!, largely lose the dorky cover shtick for (gasp!) an awful lot of dorky "rock 'n' roll" originals. Ironically, the self-penned rock numbers pack less punch than the polka and mambo modes (which are more in tune with the instrument's tradition), and ultimately, the well-chosen covers conquer. Case in point: The quavery croon of megatattooed septuagenarian Clyde Forsman on "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" is curiously moving, as if dispossessing Rod Stewart of his satin tights.

-- Sam Prestianni

Those Darn Accordions! appear at "Weird Al" Yankovic's "CD signing" Friday, Dec. 13, at 5:30 p.m. at Sam Goody, 865 Market (at Fifth Street). Admission is free; call 896-6506.