Gregory Pepper is a hilarious, depraved, acerbic modern vaudevillian, a master of multiple styles, apparently loyal to none. On the four albums and one EP credited to Gregory Pepper and his Problems, he effortlessly shifts from genre to genre, one minute doing seeming novelty songs like “The Price is Wrong,” the next launching into the dementedly necrophilic “Dearly Departed.” On a number of songs Pepper skewers pop culture (e.g. “Smart Phones for Stupid People”) but isn’t afraid to skewer himself from time to time (“At Least I’m Not a Musician,” “Whose Dick Did You Have to Suck”). Our focus is on his poprock contributions and they are impressive.

Featured here is the Bond-esque “Drop the Plot” from 2009’s With Trumpets Flaring, the sunshine poppy “Breathe In” from Escape from Skull Mountain and the disarming “Restless Legs” from his EP, My Bad. From his most recent album, Chorus! Chorus! Chorus!, we hear his Fountains of Wayne-like “Welcome to the Dullhouse.”

 

Pepper appears in Toronto October 1 at the Smiling Buddha.  Gregory Pepper website