Born off the back of a skate-punk
resurgence, LA's FIDLAR are
living life to it's fullest and creating the kind of booze-fuelled
skate-sleaze your parents warned you about. Their self-titled début
album is a balls-to-the-wall surf-jam influenced by So-Cal punk bands
such as The Offspring
and Blink 182 as much
as earlier punk bands such as T.S.O.L and
Social Distortion.
Clocking
in at just over half an hour long Fidlar
is a short, sharp kick in the ribs. Songs such as 'No Waves' ooze
So-Cal attitude and paint pictures of the holy trinity of Californian
punk. Surfing; drinking and girls. While track six, entitled 'Max
Can't Surf' is full of sleazy guitar-licks and a surprisingly Weezer
like chorus.
Unfortunately the album isn't without it's downsides. About halfway
through, it does seem to get quite repetitive, as if you've heard it
all before. The lo-fi vocals, while suiting to the overall archaic
sound of the band, do seem to be slightly over used and would benefit
from some respite every now and again.
There
are occasional moments where something particularly special shines
through, although they are few and far between. One such moment is
the shortest track on the album '5 to 9' which is a fantastic minute
long stomp-along that is bound to go down well during live shows.
While 'LDN' sounds like The Ramones
meets The Beach
Boys
in a lo-fi surf amalgam which is surprisingly inoffensive given the
drug-addled subject matter of most of the other songs.
Fidlar
is an album that will almost certainly have it's critics. On the
surface it's an aggressively hedonistic portrait of Cali life steeped
in punk history (two members of the band are children to the
guitarist from aforementioned T.S.O.L). Beneath an obnoxious exterior
however is an album with promise and potential. Perhaps a second
album will reveal a maturity in their song-writing. But for now the
lads are more inclined to drink and snort their way through the
royalties, but where else would they get their subject matter for
album number two from?
6/10
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