If there is one message made abundantly clear on the debut record from Fantazzmo it is that he loves himself. The question is – will anybody else love him as much as he loves himself?
Songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist Sergio Bedolla christened his alter ego Fantazzmo, which I thought was one of the characters in Mario Brothers, but perhaps not. Bedolla used to be in an L.A.-based band called Anima/Idle, who was featured in Spin and even secured a slot opening for Blink-182. As Fantazzmo, Bedolla is out to mix just about every rock, pop, soul, and hip-hop genre together. Some of the music on his debut record “Enter The Fantazz” is compelling, but most of it is going to be unappealing to people expecting consistency in their music. Listeners should be prepared that “Enter The Fantazz” is a wildly schizophrenic record.
While the musical styles are all over the map, the lyrics are not – Fantazzmo has a one track mind that is limited to sexual conquest. The tracks that don’t involve sex are either instrumentals (the Pink Floyd-like “Eternal Abyss” and “Cancion De La Gitana”) or a glorification of violence (the horrifying “Fear In Me”). There’s nothing wrong with writing about sex and violence of course, but Fantazzmo is simply too blunt and pornographic – there’s none of Steve Tyler’s humorous innuendo or Mick Jagger’s machismo. Fantazzmo’s lyrics are shockingly juvenile, degrading, and cringe-worthy.
The only two tracks that work here are the radio-friendly “I Know You’re Mine”, an excellent pop rocker, and “Drown Your Lies”, a reggae rocker that sounds like the single 311 has been trying to write since their last hit. If Bedolla can focus the energy and innovation in his music and write more with his brain instead of his hormones, maybe the rest of us will get a rise out of hearing Fantazzmo.
iPOD-worthy: 2, 3
Fantazzmo on MySpace. Official site.
