Magnet Magazine Issue #54 
By Joe S. Harrington

RICHARD MELTZER, ROBERT POLLARD, SMEGMA & ANTLER
Tropic of Nipples EP
Off Records

A novel concept: Richard Meltzer, one of the world’s most Dada-esque writers 
(and sometime musician), teams up with Robert Pollard, one of the world’s 
most Dada-esque musicians (and sometime writer), although they don’t actually 
play together. Instead, it’s a pastiche where Pollard will sing one, and then 
Dick will read one of his “pomes,” each backed by his respective band. In 
Pollard’s case, that’s Antler, which, in its droning excellence, sounds like 
a screw being slowly twisted from Evan Parker’s wooden leg; Meltzer’s 
Smegma, on the other hand, seems to favor Magic Band/free-jazz romps. It all 
oozes together like cheese atop Greil Marcus’ toupee. Inspirational verse: 
“The smell of woman—any woman—merely suggested by the stink of me is often 
sufficient to make me abandon everything.