El Pus vs. N.E.R.D.

Battle of the Bands That May or May Not Really be Bands.

1. Press Bios.

"Cufi and Cosmo first formed El Pus in the late '90s. Their friendship as well as their musical foundation was built on a mutual love of a wide variety of music from N.W.A to Led Zeppelin. Above all else, they were bonded by a desire to create music that was progressive, energetic and uncompromising." Sounds pretty interesting, right? Maybe it's the new Living Colour or a crunked-up Bad Brains. Nope. Turns out El Pus is closer to the black Sugar Ray, with two Mark McGraths.

"N.E.R.D is not the Neptunes. N.E.R.D is the offspring of the Neptunes id, a fly-or-die, thrash-around, do-as-you-will, set-your-soul-on-fire alter-ego that subscribes to no rules, adheres to no agenda. It is Pharrell, Chad and Shay--a trio whose chemistry allows the uninhibited exploration of the sounds, emotions and impulses of self and society, of identity and belonging." Wow. So exactly what part of "Her ass is a spaceship I want to ride" is an exploration of society?

2. Lyrics.

I know, I know...spaceship ass is tough to beat. But Cufi and Cosmo of El Pus take a few shots at the title, such as on the funk-punk "Monday Morning": "One shot, two shots, three shots four/ She came into the bar respectable but left a whore." Or on the kick-back "Days of the BK's," they open with "Rock rock, y'all, to the beat, y'all/ Elephants got big dirty feet y'all." Impressive. But as a stoned lyricist, Pharrell is without peer. "Cartoons are turning into real life," he croons on "Wonderful Place." "Lemons and limes are fighting/ Fighting over straws like they were oil-filled pipes." And that's before the part where a harmonic mouse comes along and the wallpaper moves. Damn, Pharrell.

3. The Singles.

El Pus' "Suburb Thuggin'" is fun, does rock and does make a good point in its warning to white boy wannabes to knock it the fuck off. It's rapid-fire riffs may even be as catchy as the pounding tom-toms of N.E.R.D.'s "She Wants to Move." But El Pus doesn't have some random dude yelling out "Beat it!" before each chorus. Let the uninhibited exploration continue.--Brock Radke