Janet Vodka is a New York-based band comprised of singer/guitarist Chris Sauer and singer/bassist Ron Caswell, along with a host of assorted supporting musicians. They play a horn-heavy ska/alternative amalgam, which sounds quite a bit like mid-'90s Northwest icons Black Happy, only, well, not as good. The band has some interesting ideas -- in "Angels", they marry a mellow, acoustic verse to a peppy, horn-flecked chorus, with reasonably affecting results. Elsewhere, they reveal some rather ambitious attempts at getting away from standard instrumentation and song structures. However, these attempts seldom bear fruit. On many tracks, Sauer's deficiencies as a frontman are laid bare: his voice is a whiney, bratty, annoying thing, and the fact that he often tries to affect it with a bad vibrato doesn't help matters much. His lyrics are usually far too tongue-in-cheek for their own good. On the album-opening "Famous", he sings "I'm tired of dropping acid and hitting the bong / I'm getting famous now, I've waited too long". Elsewhere, he drops some just plain dumb "sex-you-up" lyrics ("Your love is the sweetest treat, your treat I love to eat", from the questionably titled "Sweet Bitch"), and some clumsy attempts at social criticism ("I've seen the best minds of my generation / Wasted and going back for more", from "My Generation"). His vocal melodies also lack distinction -- there's just nothing here that jumps out and grabs your ear. Although Janet Vodka are clearly striving for something beyond the standard verse/chorus/verse pop song, the band's songwriting skills could also use a lot of help, as far too often these songs degenerate into muddled instrumental sections of chaotic horns, buzzing guitars (that are buried in the mix), and distracting conga/bongo percussion. Basically, Janet Vodka have some interesting ideas, but none of them come close to being fully realized on their self-titled debut.