You have to hand it to New Riot – this record sounds about as fresh as a daisy (that’s been dead for 10 years), but they do what they do with exuberance and energy and without a fashion trend in sight. That’s pretty rare – almost as rare as hearing a brassy, ska record on the radio. Formed from the ashes of Fandangle, this is the band’s debut album and the follow-up to an EP released last summer. It sounds very Less Than Jake – so if you liked ‘Hello Rockview’-era LTJ I would heartily recommend you check this band out. There are plenty of danceable moments (‘Guilty Pleasure’ is an absolute cracker of a song) and if you like the genre and in need of a new LTJ or Reel Big Fish album I could not recommend this enough.
The problem for me is that I listened to music like this when I was 15 – and that was in the mid-1990s. I’ve seen many fashion trends and musical waves wash up to shore and ska has had more revivals than Jack Bauer in a series of 24. New Riot offer up absolutely nothing new whatsoever. The British ska scene is so healthy because so many bands have tried to move things on. Fair play to New Riot for writing beer-fuelled ska-punk songs, but at 14 songs this album is way, way too long. If it had been eight tracks I’d maybe have given this an extra half-star, but it’s just too long.
‘Riot.Sleep.Repeat’ is pretty good for what it is, but what it is would have gone done much better when these guys were probably still in pre-school…