Labels: Lookout
Review by: Russell Opie
This is on Panic Button and is released in association with Lookout. I believe that Panic Button is Ben Weasel’s own label. But I could of course be wrong. I usually am. But there is one thing that I definately am not wrong about. And that is this: The Lillingtons is the best true pop-punk band around right now. Thats right I said it. This band is truely awesome. The bestest, catchiest, most structured punk influenced pop that you can buy.
I was starting to get bored with pop-punk. To me it all started to sound the same, and everyone just copied everybody else’s style. Nobody was original anymore. I had started to lose interest in the whole shebang. But then, this album comes along and restores my faith in the entire genre. Its original. Its new. Its fresh. Its different. Its pop-punk that actually has structure. Its amusing as well. All the songs are names of (fictitious?) old sixties and seventies television programs. Mostly cartoons and those really bad sci-fi shows with the absolutely cheesey special effects.
Songs like “War of the Worlds” and “I Need Some Brain Damage” are what makes this album so amazing. Tuneful punk at its very best. This will have you jumping about your room with excitement. You just won’t be able to help singing along. Maybe I should give you some pointers as to this bands sound. How about poppy, like Screeching Weasel? How about fun, like Sicko? How about tuneful, like Snuff? How about a cocktail of all those bands? But The Lillingtons are a band that is more than the sum of its parts. They have that secret special ingredient. And they doubled the dosage!!
My fave song – “Black Hole In My Mind” is a piece of pop-punk genius. Just how pop-punk should sound. It will have you singing along for sure, and its intelligent as well. The vocals on this album are truely spectacular. They don’t get annoying like some bands of this genre. I think that the vocals on an album like this are very important, and I whole heartedly love the vocals on here. Kody does a fantastic job! “I saw the Apemen (on the moon)” is another one of those pop-punk classics that this band seems to be able to churn out at will. Its catchy, its lovely and it rules.
There is not one song on this album thats not down right awesome. This is a bit special. If you don’t like this, then you are one crazy kid. And if 1999 completes and I hear a pop-punk album to better this, then I will eat my hat. Just go buy it and see how much this album rules. You won’t be disappointed.