Ahh…comedy rap! I’m not sure I ever knew there was such a thing, aside from some of the slightly (and likely unintentionally) humorous lyrics sprinkled here and there in some of the gangster and/or other rap albums I like to hear once in a while. Well, it’s not entirely accurate to call “Duckside of the Moon” strictly a rap album—the disc opens with a couple rap tracks, but then Purple Duck moves into some ballads, house jams, blues, and rock as well. While I do appreciate that our man is very diverse, I actually don’t want to hear a rock ballad, a rap song, a blues number, and a cheesy house track all on the same album. This isn’t a compilation, mind you—it is a full-length album. The guy is clearly multi-faceted as a musician, but some focus would be a welcome ingredient.

There is a kind of charm to Purple Duck’s approach to music. He’s obviously got a rough handle on how to produce an album, since he appears to have recorded, mixed, and mastered it all himself (at least he doesn’t attribute these tasks to anyone else in the liner notes). The songs that are ‘sung’ (rather than rapped or yelled) have that very subtle off-key sound, not so tone-deaf that listening is unbearable, but he’s also clearly not a candidate for any of the numerous reality-TV shows on which people sing. This slight imperfection makes these sung vocals very enjoyable actually. And when I said he has a rough handle on production, I must stress that it’s a rough handle, since a lot of the songs have this quality that only reminds me of those booths you can go into and sing over an instrumental pop-track, and walk out with your ‘demo’. It’s not lo-fi per se, but there’s something rather corny about the whole mix. That’s also a bit charming—to be honest, I can’t tell if he’s being ironic. The overtly comedic bits are funny during the first few listens, but I fear that another half-dozen spins will render most of the comedy impotent (I hope this term will be found suitable by the man who penned the classic “Sex Falcon”). And perhaps it’s because I’m a poorly-traveled American, but I’m even finding some humor in Purple Duck’s Australian accent.

There are a few glaring issues afoot here, though. The title of this CD is “Duckside of the Moon”. That is unforgivable, whether you’re a Pink Floyd fan or not. The lyrics to most of these songs, while yes they are sort of cutely humorous (and often dirty…but not filthy), they are also severely corny. Again, this may be an ironic twist (ha…fuck you Ween!). But the absence of any clear delineation is actually kind of distraction. Songs like “Love Tampon” and “Cunt Dracula” are both corny and unfunny. Then he lays down “Myspace Woman”, which is albeit very corny, but also quite hilarious.

Purple Duck is obviously a rather talented guy. Despite the probability that this disc is right now on its way to oblivion for me, I have enjoyed some very special moments with it. The songs aren’t really catchy or memorable, but if you’re listening to the lyrics, you’re going to have a good chuckle here and there. But listener beware, you may one day pop this in the CD player and find that the comedy has soured. It’s a common issue with ‘comedy’ (using the word loosely here), so probably a good reason to generally not try incorporating comedy with music. Nonetheless, “Duckside of the Moon” is a weird comedy mess of an album in which the author spans around 12 genres. Talent is definitely present, but it’s so poorly focused that I can’t really get into and stay into this CD. 6/10 -- Michael Jantz (30 June, 2009)