A clean and unique hybrid of styles coming out of France’s CHEAP ENTERTAINMENT. This eight-song record, the band’s debut, is decidedly post-punk in spirit, but no-frills in delivery, and there’s also an undercurrent of spirited pop-punking lurking here. It seems to be informed by both the more anthemic side of the ’90s and the moody Oi! movement of recent years. Is “working class emo” a thing? Because this is kind of like that.
Debut five-track self-produced/released effort from this new Italian quartet, self-confessed fans of the ’90s sounds of Fat Wreck Chords and Epitaph. Hence, unsurprisingly, there are buckets of driving melody, harmony, and rhythm in that time-honored style of NO USE FOR A NAME, FACE TO FACE, LAGWAGON, and, probably most immediately, Sweden’s MILLENCOLIN. Layered guitars and vocals abound. And they do it rather well. I have to say, I’m a fan of this genre, though it does pose a less immediate existential question on the nature of cultural imperialism, and homogeneity. If it wasn’t for the handy one-sheet, I would’ve bet my youngest child that these folks were from Orange County. On well.
When I saw the name of this band and the album cover, my initial thought was “oh, a ska band.” I mean the name COCONUT PLANTERS screams upstrokes and “hep-hep”s to me, and the tiki-themed Kaiju on the cover didn’t help matters. I could not have been more wrong. The band actually plays nicely polished punk of the classic Fat Wreck/Hopeless/Fearless variety. While I’m generally not a huge fan of this type of sound, I can appreciate it when it’s presented well. All in all, a pretty solid effort. In fact, the only two skippers for me were the ska-tinged “Reggae For Yankeez“ and the last song, the acoustic ditty “San Antonio’s Fire”.
If there was a crooked line drawn from the PSYCHEDELIC FURS album From Midnight to Midnight to the CLOUD NOTHINGS’ Attack on Memory, it would cross through this album and probably hit some SUPERCHUNK and SEBADOH on the way. Great ’90s-inspired rock with original angles from this Rome, Italy-based crew.
