CDBABY REVIEW
by Brian Henry
Tyrants Mix Up A Retro-Quirky Cocktail
Listening to this generously filled new release from the Tyrants in Therapy is a little like spending a night with a garrulous, entertaining French riverboat gambler. You don’t know exactly what’s around the next bend in the river, but you can be pretty sure it’ll be entertaining. The iconoclastic Tyrants mix up a fun brew of eighties influences (you may be reminded of the B-52s and the Human League) and sardonic social commentary to create a set that’s provocative and sly. The Tyrants are never afraid to put a wild spin on controversial subjects from gender roles to global warming. In ‘My Masculinity’, Abbe Abbe turns the table on macho men and provides a sultry, surprising response to a typical gang of sexist lugs, while ‘Apocalypso’ is an instantly memorable party soundtrack for a vivid environmental meltdown. The Tyrant Michael displays an unsentimental take on the travails of ‘My Dying Girlfriend’ on another album highlight in which the Tyrant gives a dry, matter-of-fact take on his love life. In their live performances and video work the Tyrants have mastered an off-kilter sensibility that permeates the album and will appeal to fans who like a touch of satire with their music, shown in songs like ‘BS Hollywood’, ‘Zodiac’ and ‘At The Cowboy Lounge’. The album closes with another highlight, the jaunty ‘Ballad of the Tyrants in Therapy’ which fills in the groups’ surprising back story. But there are lots of surprises in this set, a great soundtrack for a neurotic night in L.A.
- Brian Henry
CDBABY REVIEW
by Nick Bendel
Britney Spears they ain’t.
If you’re looking for manufactured music straight from the production line, the Tyrants in Therapy aren’t your guy and gal. Instead, what Michael J and AbbeAbbe offer on their second studio record is the sort of irony, originality and quirkiness for which they’re renowned.
Nine years in the making, High Class Trash is an excellent sequel to their wonderful debut, Meet the Tyrants in Therapy. To say it rocks would be to miss the mark, because it also pops, grooves, countrys, cabarets, dances, romances…you get the point. In other words, it’s trademark Tyrants.
One of the joys of listening to the Tyrants is to hear the interplay between Michael J and AbbeAbbe, the Los Angeles-based couple who have been married for almost as long as they’ve been collaborating. Sometimes they will attack a song together, as in the jaunty title track. On other occasions, as in the droll Words Like That, they will attack each other, as deprecating lines get hurled back and forth.
Another of the pleasures provided by the Tyrants is the unapologetic way in which they embrace diversity and creativity. This is not the sort of band content to do the same thing over and over again. Instead, they challenge the listener with an array of sounds and approaches. One notable example is My Masculinity, the ironic groove that is delivered in an intoxicatingly breathy voice by AbbeAbbe, and which is reminiscent of the Rolling Stones’ Miss You. It could not be more different from BS Hollywood, the up-tempo expose of the sort of superficiality epitomised by someone like Spears. And that, in turn, could not be further removed from Apocalypso, the playful tune that is part Tex-Mex and part Caribbean. Confused? Well, it all makes as much sense as you want it to.
Perhaps the best take on this band is to explain that while their music doesn’t take itself too seriously, it nevertheless manages to hit artistic heights that most groups would be envious of. In the immortal words of AbbeAbbe: “High, low, high, low/Everybody must get trashy, trashy, trashy!”
Tyrants: please don’t make us wait another decade for your next record.
- Nick Bendel
link to article
Issue #20.46 :: 06/10/2009 - 06/16/2009
The Tyrants in Therapy
"High Class Trash"
BY DINO LULL
AUGUSTA, GA - Los Angeles-based duo The Tyrants in Therapy may not be known to everybody yet, but they’ve been around earning their way for years. The culmination of all the hard work is their recent release "High Class Trash," a 21-song salute to classic punk, dance and everything experimental in between.
Beginning in the mid-'80s with their EP "3 People Nude Below the Waist/ In the Shadow of Hitler," the combination of the Tyrant Michael and AbbeAbbe indulge in multi-media mayhem, forming their own indie label in 2000, releasing their debut "Meet the Tyrants in Therapy," and finally delving into video with their sketch comedy show and videos on the Web. This has given the Tyrants in Therapy a huge cult following, even winning them awards. Following on the heels of that success, T.I.T. have now released High Class Trash.
With AbbeAbbe’s wild vocals that sounds a heck of a lot like the B-52’s and some of the most infectious, catchy, dance-punk ever invented, the Tyrants in Therapy channel the male-female duality of fellow Angelino’s X. But, it is the genre name they have earned that really best sums up the band: punk cabaret.
On the haunting opener “The Truth Hurts,” AbbeAbbe launches across the starting line with a very Patti Smith-style track. “Ain’t Over Yet” has more of an '80s Go-Go’s feel while the Tyrant Michael’s vocals and electro-pop sound reminds the listener of Sigue Sigue Sputnik.
And if that’s not strange enough, “The System” goes into a country-rockabilly-Dylan funky blues breakdown. Other awesome, quirky songs include the tropical “Apocalypso,” the old timey country “Zodiac,” and the song “BS Hollywood” that has a little bit of everything thrown in to make it probably the most excellent track on the album.
"High Class Trash" is unique, wild, silly, and yet still beautifully crafted. What all this amounts to for the Tyrants in Therapy is that this old school duo have released one of the most eclectic, weird, fun albums of dance-electronic-punk-folk-blues-show tunes albums to grace the long, sordid history of rock ‘n’ roll. Fans of the "Repo! The Genetic Opera" soundtrack, old-school punk and '80s dance music will bask in the glory of this most intense and awesomely weird album.
www.dailyvault.com MEET THE TYRANTS IN THERAPY Emotional Coathanger Records Review by: Christopher Thelen Smarter than the average listener would expect. Lighter moments include the English language version of "Je T'aime (Moi Non Plus)" and the 16-second interlude "Doubt and Pain." While tracks like "Boy, " "Om Shanti Om" (enjoyable in both its mixes presented here) and "Sex Is Back" (delivered almost in a Madonna-becomes-newscaster style by Abbe Kanter) get you up and dancing. Titles like "In The Shadow Of Hitler" and "Yer No Jack Kennedy" might leave listeners thinking that Tyrants In Therapy are a novelty band - and while they do enjoy moments of levity, they mean business. Meet The Tyrants In Therapy proved to be a more pleasant introduction to this group than I had expected - and now I'm glad to say I know the band and their music. Chances are this disc will thrill you as well.
From Endless Tyrants In Therapy @ Lumpy Gravy Tonight, a review about a duo that call themselves Tyrants In Therapy, an act that was described by a particularly vitriolic person I met recently as "a really cheezy new wave Sonny and Cher who sing to a DAT." I think this is a bit harsh. These two late thirty-some-things who call themselves the Tyrants are cabaret to the core. They try to amuse with their comedic shtick just as much as with their music. In this department the Sonny and Cher reference does seem apt. Lots of French language banter in one number, the blond male Tyrant abruptly turns from his Jewish Princess cohort to ask the audience "Why am I speaking FRENCH?" Herky jerky, they goof off each other during the songs. It's not exactly live but it's certainly not karaoke. Our eclectic TITs broaden their already versatile repertoire with some New York reggae rock. (A lot of their stuff has a definite New York pop influence.) Salty, savvy, but always good natured entertainment like Kid Creole, David Johansen, Debbie Harry and the like. Rendered with heavy irony and a glass of white wine for courage. Their centerpiece seems to be this morality play set to music called Don't Say Words Like That, an arrangement so deep and complex that they have to read it from a sheet of paper to prompt them for the overlapping lyrical duel: "Pot smoker... Karaoke Don't say words like that. Hot pink slurpies... herpes... Don't say those words Name droppers, Cherry poppers...Don't say words like that to me Baby boomers... Brain tumors. Withdrawal. Move your bowels" Greil Marcus gets the careers of Presley, Dylan and Johnny Rotten as his foils I get Tyrants In Therapy. According to Hindu precepts, I must have been reincarnated from someone especially wicked to have been dealt this lot in life maybe next time I'll come back as someone really lucky JFK, Jr.
Immedia Wire Service CD Reviews by Scott G Combining pop music with surrealism can be instantly appealing but it's a fine line between "trippy fun" and "comedy album." Fortunately, the Tyrants in Therapy (or TIT, as they often refer to themselves) never cross that line. The musical content remains high even as things go completely loopy on about a quarter of the tracks. Comprised of an ever-changing number of musicians, but centered around Michael Jaye and Abbe Kanter, TIT is thoroughly delightful. Sex is Back, Om Shanti Om and Down in Flames Together are the immediate standouts on a quirky, peppy album.
Billboard Magazine Om Shanti Om JDC maxi single L.A.-based duo fires up the sequencers for this song, from the "Meet The Tyrants in Therapy" set. Together since 1984, beatsmith Tyrant Michael J and vocalist Abbe "Abbe/Abbe" Kanter put together a deep house cut with the real, almost-trancey synths, Kanter's vocals and lyrics with religious and pagan imagery, while the DJ Genius mix drops in a cool piano sample from a 60s jazz-sounding track. The NYC mix adds some extra percussion to the mix. It comes with an a cappella too a rare find on a dance record so you can become a Tyrant yourself and create your own track. Depending on your crowd, that might be the right answer.
Pirate Jenny's Review
London, UK
Featured CD Meet the Tyrants in Therapy An intriguing album that cuts up sound effects and some great songs like the faux-naive "Shadow of Hitler" and the striking "Down in Flames" as well as more disco/pop efforts. The Tyrants' sense of humour and satire is to the fore on their hilarious gourmand's re-working of Serge Gainsbourg's "Je T'aime" and the dig at New-Agers in "Om Shantih Om." An unusual and successful fusion of the flavour of Euro-cabaret and the more interesting side of Anglophone pop music hails from across the Atlantic. Tyrants in Therapy are a Los Angeles-based duo perfecting their own notion of 'punk cabaret' which evokes both the arty pop of bands like Devo and the B-52s and a quirky vision of 'the old country' at a distance. Detroit born and LA-raised former journalist Michael J and actor-singer Abbe Kanter met in Hollywood, moving from local rock clubs to the dance scene with disco pastiche "Too Tuff to Cry." Their current work combines cabaret-esque style and wordplay with rock and a surrealism inspired by Federico Fellini. They are currently gigging regularly on the West Coast, playing songs from their long-awaited debut album "Meet the Tyrants in Therapy," which among other contributions features the bass work of former Bay City Roller Stuart 'Woody' Wood. A maxi single of the New Agey mantra "Om Shanti Om, " with remixes by the co-writer Pascal Languirand (of Trans-X fame), local house DJ Miguel Plascencia, and new-to-the-scene ("there is no avant-garde in Los Angeles") German remixer/performance artist Frank Rothkamm, was released by Los Angeles-based indie, JDC Records in Summer 2000.
Los Angeles Times "Artfully Bellying Up to the Bar Scene" by Dianne Bates
Like a twisted Steve and Edie, the Tyrants can be engaging and controversial. Michael J and AbbeAbbe have been performing in L.A. for more than 10 years at clubs like Genghis Cohen, Canter's Kibitz Room and The Garage. Unlike most other performance artists, the Tyrants have made many records and CDs and found commercial success on the dance club circuit. This is a group born on the club circuit that is riding the tide
DJ Times Magazine "Boy" Tyrants in Therapy Sheik Records (CD5) Delivered in a similar flood-of-consciousness style most recently explored in Ajax's "Ex-Junkie," except the Tyrants here employ drum programming and basslines that sound as if they could have easily appeared on an 80s Arthur Baker 12". Through Chicago-styled papery snares, Abbe Kanter rapidly delivers an East-coast accented, no-nonsense rap for the "Boy" to wake up and grow up, while sinking her teeth into delicious lines along the way like talking in my face, but staring at my chest. A bonus track, the eerily atmospheric "In the Shadow of Hitler" fits a stylized vocal by The Tyrant Michael around a calliope/ soundtrack melody. 122 BPM ***John Hrabar
Music Connection Tyrants In Therapy Canter's Kibitz Room / West Hollywood by Dianne Bates
The Players: Abbe Kanter, vocals; Michael Jaye, vocals Material: Tyrants in Therapy is a husband/wife duo who sing to DAT recorded backing tracks. Mike and Abbe present an entertaining, intelligent, cabaret-style act that is as theatrical as it is musical. The 13-song set ran the gamut from the danceable "Boy" to the decadent waltz "In the Shadow of Hitler," to the silly faux-country tune "Honky Tonk Train Blues." The Tyrants' songs are smartly humorous and often cynical. "Don't Say Words Like That," starts off as a list of off-color words which eventually morphs into rhymes like "Disneyland," and "in my pants," "George Bush," and "kiss my tush." Musicianship: Tyrants use competent guest musicians such as Bobby Robles of Thee Midniters to pre-record their musical accompaniment. Needless to say, their sets are very tightly paced. Abbe has a strong, more polished voice. Michael talk/sings in a style reminiscent of Lou Reed. Their voices harmonize well. Performance: All things French are explored during the Tyrants' brisk set. The couple are both playful and antagonistic toward each other and they engage in live and recorded bantering. Many of their tunes are prefaced by weird interstitial bits and commentary which slyly mock such questionable icons as Barbara Streisand and Barry White. Abbe wears dark clothes and little make-up. Michael wears color and lipstick. Abbe's slow, moody rendering of Arthur Alexander's "Anna" (from the Beatles' first album) is haunting and both the duo and their audience have fun with their playful version of the erotic, breast-heaving 1969 hit, "Je T'aime." "Why are we speaking French?" Michael innocently asks Abbe. Duh, it's a French song. The audience cracks up.
Summary: While it is unlikely that Tyrants in Therapy will ever play stadiums, their material is appealing to those weary of formula hits. With comedy films dominating the market right now, directors would be well advised to place Tyrants in Therapy tunes, just as they would Randy Newman's or Jonathan Richman's work, into the sort of projects that are in need of this type of material.
