Labels: Fat Wreck Chords
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Christ. I thought D4 had blown it, “Versus God” was a strictly average LP that didn’t entice me to play it more than enough times to come to the conclusion that it wasn’t really that exciting. “Midwestern Songs” (their debut) is one of my favourite records ever as it is a sprawling, freewheeling and chaotic pop-punk record. Which is quite an achievement. “Versus” ironed out all the imperfections that made it’s pre-decessor so great. Luckily D4 remembered how to be an amazing band on this record, instead of a good one. This record has the element that the other sorely lacked. It makes me want to put it on and listen to thing! I am not quite sure why. I think it has more fast songs, but it certainly doesn’t have any of the drunk as fuck stuff from the first LP. Shit, the first LP had a song that sounded like Assfactor 4 on it! This is a pretty clean and melodic album, but it is tight as fuck and yet still has that fantastic freewheeling feeling that makes me smile, knock back a beer and punch the air and want to sing a long like a twat. It has more songs that sound drunk, for example “Folk Song”, and it has those blasters with that great chug-a-lugga-lugga guitar sound. Plus the fat guy sings more. The louder you play this, the better it gets. I am poking myself in the eye for not being able to go see them earlier this year now.
D4, you are bastards – you made me buy a record on Fat Wreck. I’ll never live it down.
Bonus: this record has pictures of monkeys on the labels.