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Zoodrive

Not Fully Medicated

(Zip; US: Sep 2006; UK: Available as import)

Zoodrive makes rock music, and Not Fully Medicated is an EP full of rock songs.  Need more specifics than that?  Okay, they make slightly punk-influenced rock music with a touch of indie styling and a disturbing predilection for balladry.  And if Not Fully Medicated is any indication, they’re not very good at it, yet, either.  At first, it’s the sort of independent rock album you want to root for, spunky and energetic if not exactly memorable, exuding a certain charm that masks its musical deficiencies.  And yet, by the time the bloated, overblown (this at only five-and-a-half minutes), and terribly clichéd final track (a little something called “Start My Motor”) kicks in, the charm is gone.  Did a random female vocalist really just show up to quote the Barney “I Love You” song?  Does that chorus really say “Only you can start my motor” over and over again?  Were those fake synthed-out descending violin lines really necessary?  That final track puts into the spotlight just how far this band has to go before it actually creates something worth listening to—Not Fully Medicated could easily have been retitled “Not Fully Cooked”.

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Mike Schiller is a software engineer in Buffalo, NY who enjoys filling the free time he finds with media of any sort -- music, movies, and lately, video games. Stepping into the role of PopMatters Multimedia editor in 2006 after having written music and game reviews for two years previous, he has renewed his passion for gaming to levels not seen since his fondly-remembered college days of ethernet-enabled dorm rooms and all-night Goldeneye marathons. His three children unconditionally approve of their father's most recent set of obsessions.


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