Don't ____ With the Fantasy

San Fran duo the Resinators' second CD continues their fight against the stagnation of underground rock with more declarative, bleary-eyed stomp coupled with an absurd lyrical stance. In doing so, they've widen their range of approaches on this release, going from slow-tempo slapdash basement tunefulness on "Underage Girl" to garage organ and production on "Contact High," though the main focus is on the more up-tempo thump and bump numbers that comprise the rest of Don't ____ With the Fantasy. Sonically, the Resinators are covering a set of influences familiar to anyone that stuck with underground post-punk guitar rock through the '90s. David Nudelman's high-speed, blurry guitar drone is suggestive of the Cheater Slicks at times, with some free noise prog (if such a such a thing exists) soloing during numbers like "Happy." Put to the task, it's even possible to pull out an elliptical and bellowing nod at the Fall. The real point of Fantasy is the absurdist humor of the lyrics, but it's hard to pinpoint where the band draws the line between satire and self-parody, and whether they've even consciously made that decision. When Nudelman chants through lyrics like "I listen and I listen and nothing is new/smoking it down is what I do," is he mocking a certain stoned slacker mentality, indulging in ironic self-reflection, or a little of both? This is familiar territory for drummer/vocalist Anthony Bedard, who helped map out a similar path with his earlier groups, the Icky Boyfriends and the Leather Uppers; if nothing else, he gets points for persistence. While this absurd/ironic approach gives the Resinators an individual voice in the sea of sameness of low-budget rock, it also defuses much of the emotional impact that they might have. Perhaps that's actually the point — a willful irrelevance that sidesteps the issue of intent all together and revels in red-eyed rock unabashedly.