Rating: NNN
As far as Asian-American punk rockers go, especially ones with acoustic guitars strapped on who sing dissident songs about U.S.-North Korea relations, I’d venture to say Mike Park’s in a class of his own. Park, who grew up in southern California and founded Asian Man Records, has a passion for his causes that immediately negates any impulse you might have to write him off as a novelty. His songs can be a little overwrought, especially when the cellos come in, but his Billy Bragg-style anti-racist protest songs feel genuine, and when he sings about cultural stereotypes in Asian Prodigy or a famine-affected Pyongyang in the title track, you want to take him at his word.