Album Review: Wallpaper – DooDoo Face

Wallpaper’s debut album “DooDoo Face” thinks it’s from the 70’s but really it’s not. They didn’t have Auto-Tune way back then, I mean c’mon they didn’t even have computers back then. DooDoo face thinks that it’s from the 70’s with it’s horns and funky beat. Shaft would be proud at this funky dinosaur of a record. Wallpaper is basically Eric “Ricky Reed” Frederick. I think it’s still classified as a side project, and as a huge Facing New York fan I am going to try really hard not to talk about how I think Wallpaper/ Taking Back Sunday/ UC Berkeley killed Facing New York.

I first heard Wallpaper hella days ago son! I think that I was given an EP back in 2006 with a few songs on it with cliche beats and lyrics that had been processed though this program called Auto-Tune. For a few weeks into listening to this, I thought that Frederic could actually sing like this. I actually played it for a co-worker and was like “dude, listen to how weird this guy can sing.” He told me it was processed and I was like “no way” he’s the lead singer of FNY he’s hella good like that! It took me a few years to actually see Wallpaper live. I was just randomly at the Rickshaw Stop one night with a friend and this guy came on stage and I was like “WTF, that’s Eric, where is Omar and why dose he look like a wannabe Flavor Flav?” I put it together as soon as I heard “T Rex” (that’s my freakin’ jam!)

After that show, Wallpaper went from a blip on my radar to a full-on scavenger hunt via the internet. I have never been able to tell just how serious this project is. The production of everything that gets labeled as Wallpaper is fairly well done. It’s obvious that it’s not just Eric sitting in his living room with fruity loops and mic. On this other hand, this (from my understanding) is still a side project, and how am I supposed to take is seriously when he puts out a song called “The Remix” and then he tells me that he made the song “five minutes long for extra dancing” but the song is only two minutes and thirty-three seconds. I just chocked this entire project as a “show,” it’s all about the show, the glits and the glam and left it at that.

Don’t get me wrong. I think that Wallpaper is totally fun! I think that only my girlfriend can tell you how many times I lip-synced “every time we do it” to her. I think that the (now) obvious use of Auto-Tune and beats that you’d find from a SNL Digital Short, and lyrics that involve buying $40 dollars of Two Buck Chuck from Trader Joes to take to a party for NYC fashion week at your 6’3″ model girlfriend’s house, is awesome! How could you not!?

It’s funny though, because if you would have told me five years ago when Swimming Not Treading came out and I was listening to “Tell Everyone” over and over again, that Eric Frederic was going to put out a hip-hop record, I would have asked “Is Rene going to play his Wurlitzer? Because that’s my favorite part.” I find that jump still rather remarkable, how did “I may never fall in love again” turn into “text me your love so I know it’s true”? I guess that this is what an alter ego does to people.

My favorite parts of DooDoo Face are by far the upbeat fun songs like “I Got Soul, I’m So Wasted.” I could listen to this song all freakin’ day, seriously. There’s also “Ddd”, it’s this bass-heavy thumper that would make Oakland proud, OK, North Oakland, any other part you might get shot, feel me Lake Merritt? I bump this in my car, but I rock a Zipcar, normally a Toyota Prius so I’m probably not the one to be handing out thug points!

One thing that I was not expecting where how awesome the brass section on this album would be; songs like “Celebrity” use great horns, to tie in that 70’s shit I started with. If you don’t want to dance when those horns kick in, you must be dead. “It’s My Birthday” also has the horns that make the song very festive, because I mean who doesn’t have a brass band at their birthday parties?

“I Ain’t Most Dudes” is where the 70’s reference really came from. (If I were a better writer I would have explained that earlier, but my grammar probably gave that way already. [Editor’s note: if there’s any screwed up grammar left, it might be my fault, but I might be trying to leave you sounding “cool.”]) I love any song with cow bell, funky synth, a snappy snare, a clap track, and of course, a saxophone!

Overall, I dig this album and I’d recommend it anyone who doesn’t take themselves too seriously. Doodoo Face is a fun, lighthearted romp into hip-hop that’s more insistent than most other more serious stuff out there. This album is bound to make you feel good! That’s why this album is here to make you laugh, smile and just have fun with friends. The more I listen to this album, the more I wish I had more friends, or really, that I was a 16-year-old girl so I could play this album as my friends and I got ready to go out on Friday night to Zack Lee’s house party! Wallpaper is here to have fun with, there aren’t any dirty “whisper songs” here, just some PG-13 good ol’ Dj Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince stuff going on here, just more like “he’s the drummer I’m the rapper,” only here’s not a bunch of rapping. I highly recommend Doodoo Face: just trust me you’re certain to be singing into your hair brush soon enough.

David Price

More Posts - Website