Well, here’s an almost pleasant surprise. Well, pleasant in the sense that it wasn’t unpleasant as such, which is what I was expecting when I popped it into my CD player. A simple play on words suggesting stupidity for the band name, artwork involving ‘friends’ tossing about and some random cartoons and stuff, as well as ‘crazy’ song titles led me to believe this was going to be face-chewingly irritating ska which tried to be ‘wacky’ but missed by a fair distance and accidentally landed in the box marked ‘fucking shit’ instead.
Luckily though kids, this is highly listenable. Yes, it’s got horns, yes, it’s a bit ‘keraaazzzy’ in places, but there’s some cracking riffs and hooks flitting in and out of here and a distinctly British streak that is always good to hear. In parts, it brings to mind older, less experimental Howards Alias with touches of Big D and The Kids Table. Granted, it’s hardly up to the staggeringly high quality set by the aforementioned bands, but in this genre, nothing really is.
If they ever wish to raise the bar to that standard, Antilectual need to learn the art of streamlining their songs. That, or variety is the spice of life. Sections such as the extended chorus in ‘Inequality’ just drag on for a little too long. I found myself drifting off and thinking ‘shit, is this still the same song?’ a couple of times and by the end of the album, everything did kinda blur into one, but then that’s the problem I have with most ska-based music these days, as the ideas seem to be running thin on the ground.
Still, they’ve got the hooks, they sound like they’ve got the energy, and looking at the packing and stuff for this record, they’ve certainly got the ambition, so good luck to ‘em. Just throw in a few more ideas lads, that’s all I ask!
Ross