A lot of reasonable punk albums have a variety of styles in their lineups, and Anti Freeze seem to have been at pains to ensure theirs is no different. Taken under the arm of Kris Roe of the Ataris, Anti Freeze have done Kung Fu proud, with an album that will no doubt sell like chocolate at a nymphomaniac convention.
The album has been produced well, with sprinklings of ‘alternative’ instruments which seem to be all the rage at Kung Fu at the moment, with a cello, keyboard and obligatory moog all thrown in for good measure. Fortunately, they never come close to eclipsing the songs, and serve to benefit the tunes rather than detract from them.
Fans of Anti Freeze will have noticed 4 or 5 tracks have been re-released from their previous outing, ‘Two Years, Ten Thousand Miles’ on mp3.com, which would have been relatively disappointing had they not been cleaned up and polished; ‘Ordinary’ is as catchy and instantly likeable as it ever was, whereas ‘Cyber sweetie’ is now a fuller, more hard hitting song – minus both the modem dial up noise at the start and the long solo (which will be missed), it is still possibly one of the greatest pop punk songs written in recent years.
Anti Freeze’s ever popular ‘Is he your boyfriend’ has also been modified slightly with a more, dare I say it, Ataris style verse incorporated, yet still transforms into the ballad which gave the band much of their fanbase. ‘The Long Way’ has an opening which for me sounds distinctly like Bigiwg; fortunately for Anti Freeze’s lawyers however, this is where the comparison ends, and the song reverts back to the melodic formula which propels the rest of the album.
One more thing though, make no mistake about it; this is a sacchrine sweet trip into broken heart land so don’t expect anything different; but if you have the stomach for it, go for it.
Don’t worry AntiFreeze – we think your band is OK…
nick