Hello Doctor

Album Review

On Hello Doctor, the full-length debut by Gravy Train!!!!, the band mixes musical styles and sexual orientations with reckless abandon, coming up with a try-sexual, lo-fi rap/dance fusion that makes Peaches sound as polished and demure as Celine Dion. With a vocal style that's part cheerleader, part riot grrrl, and part hip-hop diva, lead Gravy Trainee Chunx takes on all kinds of usually verboten topics, such as the dangers of giving a "Kottonmouth BJ"; how poorly endowed men make her "Hella Nervous"; and her star-crossed love of burgers in "Burger Baby," which could be described as "Papa Don't Preach" crossed with a Happy Meal. Dancer/rapper Hunx adds to the pansexual approach on songs like "You Made Me Gay," a raunchy but good-natured hip-hop battle of the sexes (and sexualities) that rhymes "anthrax" with "skin sax," and "Double Decker Supreme," a raunchy, ridiculous recounting of a menage à trois that also brings up the group's unique burger fetish. Despite the fact that Hello Doctor is about nothing but sex, it sounds surprisingly innocent; Chunx's strident delivery and the fact that most of the songs sound like playground chants set to Casios make the album more subversive and playful than erotic or exploitive. Hello Doctor basically sounds like really drunken, crazy karaoke at a wild party, particularly on "Laffin' All the Way...to the Bank!," "Mouthfulla Caps," and "Gutter Butter," a more hip-hop-based track that suggests that the bandmembers have more than gimmicky sex songs up their collective sleeves. Then again, Gravy Train!!!! works its gimmick with such a giddy sense of humor that it's hard not to at least crack a smile or bust a move or two while listening to Hello Doctor.