The first thing you'll notice about Marc With A C's "Unicorns Get More Bacon" is the cover. It's obvious for a CD, even in these Bandcamp/iTunes days, but let it sink into your eye-holes.
A garish, pink and blue Lisa Frank trapper-keeper cover. The album's title barely readable, as it's written out in elements from the Periodic Table. It's bright, attention grabbing, "quirky" and the combination of "Unicorns" and "Bacon" make it sound like something I could pick up at ThinkGeek along with my Death Star Waffle Iron and Taun-Taun Sleeping Bag.
Given how I feel about ThinkGeek, I was a little turned off.
However, I really liked Marc With A C's (or Cark if you work at Starbucks) sampler "An Introduction To Mark With A C" and his previous album "Exactly Where I Am". His catalog is full of fun, well-written, sometimes bittersweet songs that could easily fit in the past 40 years of pop music.
By the first chorus, the title made sense:
"They said the artist needs a patron, and unicorns get more bacon, but they cheer the loudest for what I like least" My interpretation is "OK, you said standing out is supposed to be profitable, but why aren't I being recognized?"
It's the year 2016. Everything needs to stand out and have its image and brand 100% ready. With social media being in every facet of people's lives, you are not a person, you're a brand. Everything you do needs to be omnipresent on every platform the second it comes to fruition. By standing out, being polished and doing everything right, you're blending in.
Naming your album "Unicorns Get More Bacon" and putting the cover on a relic of the 90's that thrives only in dollar stores was a good idea.
Confusion over our obsession with image continues throughout the rest of the first half of Unicorns. "Ethics In Gaming" is probably my favorite of this batch. The pounding kick drums and running bassline are a strong hook to get you into the verses, which lead you into the chorus that I've been feeling all too much: "Everything everybody does these days is a game.". It also name drops Guy Fieri and his stupid shirts. For whatever point he's making, there's always a fun line or seven to pick things up a bit.
Interesting enough, the only songs I'd consider skippable are the ones that don't really play into the overall theme, save for "The Ballad Of Dick Steel", a song about the guy who hosts "Nerdy Karaoke" at The Geek Easy in Orlando. The last two songs, "Falling Sometimes Down" and "Long Distance Dedication", both clocking in at over 5 minutes each, are among my favorites. They're both pleasant trips that get more and more desperate as they go on, culminating in fantastic endings, and LDD makes for a nice quiet closer.
RATING: 1/10. He's running a contest for a free vinyl copy and I want to seem like I've been unbiased.
Basically, a good album that I picked up at the right time, where after half the songs I'm going "Ugh, tell me about it."
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