Fannypack - 'See You Next Tuesday' (Gut) Released 22/08/05

Reports of Fannypack's demise have been exaggerated. Indeed, many believed the Brooklyn quintet would sink without trace after scoring a novelty hit with 'Cameltoe', a term used to describe the look a female acquires by wearing too tight trousers/knickers/thongs/whatever or what Cameltoe.com call "the other cleavage", in 2003. That they didn't was down to the subsequent release of surprisingly strong album 'So Stylistic'. Yet their sophomore effort, 'See You Next Tuesday', a phonetically-conceived euphemism for the rather more blunt '****', could yet sound their death knell.
 
Sure, the girls, Cat, Jessibel and Belinda, come across as rambunctious as they were on their debut. They still sound as if they're supporting a co-headlining Kid 'N Play/L' Trimm gig circa 1988. But opener 'Keep It Up' rivals a dripping tap as a source of torturous repetition. Producers Matt Goias and Kevin 'Fancy' Grady, middle-class rap fans originating from the Burbs, do, thankfully, cast off the party-hip-hop template on 'Fire Fire' featuring Mr Vegas which will please the ever-swelling numbers of reggaeton fans.

Elsewhere described as a female version of the Beastie Boys, Fannypack will have to evolve more to survive. They're like a Beastie Boys re-releasing 'Licensed to Ill' in 1989 instead of 'Paul's Boutique' and trying to pass it off as a new, original recording. The long-term future of Cat, Jessibel and Belinda, whose amateurish rapping style soon becomes tiresome, as Fannypack members might be out of the trio's hands anyway. Svengalis Goias and Fancy might lose interest just as Malcolm McLaren did with the Pistols. And what the boys do next will probably be more interesting than what the girls get up to.