Review Summary: Prog and math rock is back, in pop form!
I’m 99.9% Wippy Bonstack plays music unlike anything you’ve ever heard. Correct Irregulars, his 4th full-length album (under this alias), feels wrong to label as the complete package from an artist so clearly drawing from a seemingly bottomless well of creativity, whimsy and pure unadulterated love for music, but that is just how it feels. And it feels
so damn good .
Taking notes from avant-prog, with a knack for a hook like Martin Newell or Rob Crow, Ben Coniguliaro’s masterwork runs at a breakneck pace and its conciseness for an album over an hour and 22 tracks is something to marvel. A breath of fresh air from the first seconds of opener ‘Winning Ends’, which is equal parts funky and crisp to the ear, Wippy’s vocals are welcoming and warm both sonically and lyrically as he croons a “Hey there!”. In another album highlight, ‘Wishtank’, a refrain sings “If you’re like me, carry on”, creating this welcoming and inclusive atmosphere to a genre oft derided for its insularity.
There’s plenty of that signature Prog-Humour™, with ‘TIML/Ears Adjust’ playing up the difficulties involved in recording music and ‘Fleabar’s Folly’ parodying the deep narratives often involved in progressive rock, with more reverence than derision. Wippy eschews “good taste” and simply incorporates all the music he loves into a package that’s not just digestible, but absolutely delicious.
