*** Ween

THE MOLLUSK

(Elektra)

Fake brothers Dean and Gene Ween are back to their old tricks on the sort-of-nautically themed The Mollusk. They've gone from being four-track hitmakers -- stoner clowns on a lo-fi mission -- to indulging in enough studio slickery to create an amazing facsimile of Philly cheese-steak soul (Chocolate and Cheese's "Spirit of '76"). That was followed by a 10-song album's worth of finely seasoned C&W. In other words, they've proved that these days there's room for a band to have their cake and piss on it, too.

On The Mollusk Dean and Gene return from the Nashville-isms of 12 Golden Country Greats to the comfort of their own living room, bedroom, basement, or wherever the hell it is they're recording these days, for another artful and offensive hit-and-run job on a dizzying array of genres. This time they fire their squirt guns at the Irish with the drunken swagger of the bar-song parody "The Blarney Stone," and they do a number on the polka with "Polka Dot Tail." There's also the absurdist folk pop of the disc's fey title track, and plenty to offend the thin-skinned, including a two-minute dick joke called "Waving My Dick in the Wind." It just wouldn't be Ween if Dean and Gene didn't spend at least one song playing with themselves.

-- Matt Ashare