percy "thrills" hussalonia. hussalonia. review by alan haber. buhdge

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Hussalonia Percy "Thrills" Hussalonia (2004) "On the other side of the record, we'll take you into the spiritual part of your being," the sexy female voice coos, and there you have Percy "Thrills" Hussalonia's first feat of legerdemain, front-loaded for easy access: there is no "other side of the record." There is only the one side, and it's crammed tight with 32 minutes and 18 seconds worth of misdirection, presto-change-o and how'd-he-do-thats, and if that's not pulling a rabbit out of a hat, I don't know what is. Jesse Mank, the uber-talented man behind the Percy "Thrills" moniker, is one clever guy, and he's applied that cleverness to every succulent note and syllable of Hussalonia. Mank's got a great sense of humor, too; the blurb on the back of the CD's slip card offers that Percy has made good on his announcement that his album will contain "only the sound of his golden trombone and nothing else." You trombone addicts will be disappointed, but everyone else will be thrilled, for Percy has made some exciting sounds that a trombone could only hope to make, and he's played them all himself. Mank...I mean, Percy...is a man of many moods, fusing a variety of styles, sometimes in the same song. Take the Marc Bolan-esque vocal on "Missing Persons," a wonderful pure pop song that mixes it up with elements of blues and Hawaiian guitar. A clever wordsmith, Percy gives anyone's rhyming dictionary a workout in the melodic love song, "Indefinitely." "Notate the songs of canaries/Write brand new words for dictionaries," he sings. "You write it down by definition/I love you now/It's so adjective." Too cool for English 101. Love conquering all, against all odds, is the subject of the gorgeous "Click to Add to My Shopping Cart." Percy the clever lyricist is in full bloom here: "There's a hole, there's a hole, there's a hole in my heart/So I click and I add to my shopping cart/With money that I don't have/Someone sing me a song that'll make it alright/I've got my credit card/Can you ship it tonight?/With money that I don't have." The music, classic pure pop buoyed by terrific background harmonies and the hint of a banjo, is given a solid, wide stereo mix, within which the delicate arrangement has more than ample room to breathe. Mank's...uh, Percy's calling card is the short song, average time 2:15 per, according to the back of the CD. Many of the songs are much shorter than that, and to the artist's credit, he knows when to leave you wanting more, such as in the 51 second-long punk-to-pop "There's No One that's More You than You," a statement of adoration that contains another right-clever lyric: "Science can not recreate you/Actresses can not portray you/I'd search the world high and low/But you're the only you I know." Percy is not above lashing out at the wrongs of the world, as he does in the brutally honest "They Took Away the Radio," in which he sticks it to the Man, with a tear in his eye and a shuffling, poppy beat: "Freedom of speech/Freedom isn't free/And not without federal regulatory/Corporation, the FCC/Keeping the airwaves safe from you and me." You go, Percy! Besides the artist's name nod to Paul McCartney (remember Macca hiding behind the Percy "Thrills" Thrillington moniker for his wacky MOR version of Ram?), this Percy pays tribute with two tracks from that album: "3 Legs" and "Back Seat of My Car," neither of which are the Cute Beatle's creations. What's more, Percy's approach to his songs is rooted in McCartney sweetness, a gift for melody, and, as you can tell by the examples given here, a knack for wordplay. Percy/Mank is a bit of a free spirit, which he demonstrates right out of the box in the album's first song. "If you want to, you can disappear," he sings, and that's what he's done, disappeared into the possibilities of melodic pop, and fun disguise, but whether you call him Percy "Thrills" or Jesse Mank, he's a real live pop craftsman, and his first 32 minutes and 18 seconds of fame is one hell of a calling card. Alan Haber April 16, 2005
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Hussalonia
Percy "Thrills" Hussalonia
(2004)

percy "thrills" hussalonia's hussalonia "On the other side of the record, we'll take you into the spiritual part of your being," the sexy female voice coos, and there you have Percy "Thrills" Hussalonia's first feat of legerdemain, front-loaded for easy access: there is no "other side of the record." There is only the one side, and it's crammed tight with 32 minutes and 18 seconds worth of misdirection, presto-change-o and how'd-he-do-thats, and if that's not pulling a rabbit out of a hat, I don't know what is.

Jesse Mank, the uber-talented man behind the Percy "Thrills" moniker, is one clever guy, and he's applied that cleverness to every succulent note and syllable of Hussalonia. Mank's got a great sense of humor, too; the blurb on the back of the CD's slip card offers that Percy has made good on his announcement that his album will contain "only the sound of his golden trombone and nothing else." You trombone addicts will be disappointed, but everyone else will be thrilled, for Percy has made some exciting sounds that a trombone could only hope to make, and he's played them all himself.

Mank...I mean, Percy...is a man of many moods, fusing a variety of styles, sometimes in the same song. Take the Marc Bolan-esque vocal on "Missing Persons," a wonderful pure pop song that mixes it up with elements of blues and Hawaiian guitar. A clever wordsmith, Percy gives anyone's rhyming dictionary a workout in the melodic love song, "Indefinitely." "Notate the songs of canaries/Write brand new words for dictionaries," he sings. "You write it down by definition/I love you now/It's so adjective." Too cool for English 101.

Love conquering all, against all odds, is the subject of the gorgeous "Click to Add to My Shopping Cart." Percy the clever lyricist is in full bloom here: "There's a hole, there's a hole, there's a hole in my heart/So I click and I add to my shopping cart/With money that I don't have/Someone sing me a song that'll make it alright/I've got my credit card/Can you ship it tonight?/With money that I don't have." The music, classic pure pop buoyed by terrific background harmonies and the hint of a banjo, is given a solid, wide stereo mix, within which the delicate arrangement has more than ample room to breathe.

Mank's...uh, Percy's calling card is the short song, average time 2:15 per, according to the back of the CD. Many of the songs are much shorter than that, and to the artist's credit, he knows when to leave you wanting more, such as in the 51 second-long punk-to-pop "There's No One that's More You than You," a statement of adoration that contains another right-clever lyric: "Science can not recreate you/Actresses can not portray you/I'd search the world high and low/But you're the only you I know."

Percy is not above lashing out at the wrongs of the world, as he does in the brutally honest "They Took Away the Radio," in which he sticks it to the Man, with a tear in his eye and a shuffling, poppy beat: "Freedom of speech/Freedom isn't free/And not without federal regulatory/Corporation, the FCC/Keeping the airwaves safe from you and me." You go, Percy!

Besides the artist's name nod to Paul McCartney (remember Macca hiding behind the Percy "Thrills" Thrillington moniker for his wacky MOR version of Ram?), this Percy pays tribute with two tracks from that album: "3 Legs" and "Back Seat of My Car," neither of which are the Cute Beatle's creations. What's more, Percy's approach to his songs is rooted in McCartney sweetness, a gift for melody, and, as you can tell by the examples given here, a knack for wordplay.

Percy/Mank is a bit of a free spirit, which he demonstrates right out of the box in the album's first song. "If you want to, you can disappear," he sings, and that's what he's done, disappeared into the possibilities of melodic pop, and fun disguise, but whether you call him Percy "Thrills" or Jesse Mank, he's a real live pop craftsman, and his first 32 minutes and 18 seconds of fame is one hell of a calling card.

Alan Haber
April 16, 2005