Labels: Empty
Review by: Andy Malcolm
For those who care about minor details, Sicko are a Seattle band and this came out on some other label in the US, but has been licensed to Crackle over here. And that rules, cos it means we actually get more of a chance to hear this stuff. And hear it you should.
Sicko are pop punk meisters. 18 tracks, a mere 33 minutes long – you ain’t being subjected to 6 minute sweeping, strings filled epics here. Quickfire is the word, but it is oh so good. And the reason Sicko are oh so good is because they have more than just a pop punk arrow in their quiver of music (how bad was that analogy!). They don’t just ply the same formula on each song. They actually, *gasp*, do variation!
OK, so most of it is simple, happy sounding pop punk. But by squeezing as much sunny jumpalongness as is feasibly possible into each tune, Sicko really grab the attention. If you dig the poppy likes of Dagobah, the Jellys and Travis Cut then here’s another band to check out. The type of band that plays relatively fast, but still retains that essential popness. Yum. And stuffed between the standard blasters like “The One That Got Away”, and “Hipster Boyfriend” you’ll stumble across “Attention Please” which has a sort of J Church feel to the way it approaches pop punk. Or how about the indie “If I’m Vacant” which at times sounds so much like Fountains of Wayne that its scary.
Sicko don’t mind telling you all about some of their “influences”, or at least, bands they like. “What Happened” wistfully asks why bands like Dinosaur Jr and Soul Asylum disappeared / went bad and why record shops no longer sell much vinyl, there is a tribute to the Misfits (the coolly named & played “Your Sister Is A Werewolf Tonight”), a Misfits cover, and an Iron Maiden cover. Hehey!
From time to time they are certainly lyrically bizarre. The superbly pop “A Song About A Rabbit” for instance – I think it’s a song about a book called “Where The Wild Things Are”, or one of those old childrens books – you might recognise it from the line: “you and a boy in a wolf suit dancing by the side of the sea”. Whatever, its riotously catchy, and a prime example of how cool Sicko are when they deviate slightly from the straight forward pop punk blueprint.
This is as good a pop punk album I’ve heard this year, up there ALL’s “Mass Nerder”. Thats how good I think this is. Buy it.