“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.