The rock trio Mans Laughter has released a slick new CD entitled "Smile Bitch!" recorded locally at Starfield productions, The CD contains 7 songs quite different from the other. If I could compare this
project to a bottle of wine, I would describe it as a flavorful bouquet of rock, sprinkled with a hint of jazz, pop, Latin and hip hop, accentuated by a subtle taste of classical instruments.
  Mans Laughter consists of Luis Accorsi on guitar, vocals, and misc. instrumentation, Mike giezycki on
drums, and Mike Lasek jr. on bass, vocals, and misc. instrumentation. All songs were produced by Accorsi, and Lasek. The intro song "In the nighttime" is a ready for radio airplay rock song that has a nice beat and feel to it. "open the door" deviates from rock to feature violin, flute, bass, and has some mysterious vocals that cause you to think about what the song is saying to you. "40 in the fridge" is the
bands foray into hip hop. Interesting, but not quite up to 50 Cent standards. "Queen emptiness" is obviously influenced by the South American born Accorsi, who weaves a Latin sound complete with a jazzy trumpet, to make the song quite unique from any other song on the CD. "Peace between the east" is a combination of rock and jazz in which featured instruments are guitar, bass, drums and a background of trumpet and trombone. Its a little more instrumental than the other songs on "Smile Bitch!", it can grow on you the more you hear it. "Its up to you" is my favorite. The vocals and melody reminds me of Ray Davies and The Kinks, one of England's best rock groups with a little American influence a la Fee Waybill and The Tubes. This song rocks! "In and of" is a mish-mesh of sounds that starts off rather weird. The beginning sounds like a bunch of bubbles being popped, and the song ventures into a combo of keyboards, synthesizers and rock sounds.
  Overall, Accorsi, Giezycki, and Lasek succeed in a quality recording that is very polished. I give them credit for trying so many varieties of music, but I think their strength lies in their three piece togetherness
when they rock. Their sound is tight and the songs don't wander. "Smile Bitch!" is worth picking up.
   Rating: 3 1/2  out of 5.
               
       Reprinted from the May 30, 05 edition of Night-Life magazine. Review by Dave Koester.