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Author: David Robison

  • Ike World By Eichlers

    Ike World By Eichlers

    Album: Ike World

    Artist: Eichlers

    Release: June 14, 2024, Self Release

    I am going to be honest with y’all. When this album was announced and pitch as THE “summer punk” album I was a little bummed. The love of Hyper Ska burns deep inside me and I was hoping for some more of what we got from “My Checkered Future”. While I can’t say I was not excited when I hit play for the first time, I was still a little apprehensive.

    Breaking from my usual routine of starting at track 1 and playing the album start to finish, I instead skipped right to the song “A Goofy Movie” mainly to see if Ike drops the sample, he is known for in this song but also because it is a pretty classic 90s movie with a great pop soundtrack. Ike also seems to have at least some amount of respect for. I wanted to see what kind of song Ike deemed worthy of the name. While he does not use the sample in the song. I am happy to report that the phrase is used in the lyrics, and it hits hard. This was the first clue that Ike was going to be subverting my expectations for this album. The song itself is super catchy and upbeat. A highlight of the album. The next standout song for me was “Hindsight 420”. This is a definitive call back song that managed to distill the vibes of his last full-length album “My Checked Future” into a 2 minute and 20 seconds of pure joy. I especially enjoyed the lyric “I think I just flipped other flop” another subversion, this time referencing a lyric from the song ”Hi”. I can’t help but smile every time I hear it. Another thing that brings me absolute joy is the piano in “Tongue V. Cheek” it starts the song out in this rather grand fashion then slowly melds perfectly into the song.

    While this release might not be pure Hyper Ska it is still crammed full all the with and humor that Eichlers fan have come to expect and love.

    This Review was Originally post on 10-04-2029 one the Lonely Ghost Records Community Blog

  • Diminishing Returns by Runaway Ricochet

    Diminishing Returns by Runaway Ricochet

    Album: Diminishing Returns

    Artist: Runaway Ricochet

    Release: April 30, 2024; Ska Punk International

    I have no idea if this is actually true, but someone once told me that when recording an album, Coheed and Cambria maps each song out on a giant white board, painstakingly planning out each part of the song in intimate detail. With the release of “Diminishing Returns” by Minneapolis Ska Punk Band, Runaway Ricochet, you can not convince me that they didn’t also do this.

    Don’t believe me? Take “Anchor” for example, it starts out as a very ska punk styled song. By the end, you have gone through a wild ride that includes a horn part that is absolutely amazing and a part that I can only describe as a jazzy synth piano. This musical romp, coupled with the lyrics that speak to the dealing with the struggles of life and learning to make the best of it rather than trying to wait them out, set high expectations for the rest of the album. By far one of the strongest album openers, I have heard in a long time. The vocal performance in the songs: “Make it Out” and “Faint Love Song” are both exceptional. The delivery of the hooky bits of the choruses is where they really shine for me. They are gold tier ear worms. I kid you not, there was a point while I was writing this review that my wife threatened to move out if she heard me sing, “This baby bird hasn’t learned to fly” one more time. Frankly, I don’t blame her either it was stuck in my head bad, and I wasn’t doing those lyrics any justice at all as I am a terrible singer. “Chorale of the Grove” is an instrumental horn piece that was an unexpected, but very welcomed inclusion on the album. It’s smooth and upbeat with a little bit of vague nostalgia mixed in. Dare I say it is rather beautiful. My only criticism of it is that it is not long enough. Hopefully Runaway Ricochet will have more of this type of song in store for us in the future.

    This album has so much good stuff going on that even though I have almost exclusively been listening to it while writing this review, a countless number of times, I don’t really feel like a have completely “heard” everything the album has to offer. It is an incredibly detailed, intricately constructed work of art. I honestly struggle to come up with the words to describe it. I think the best I can do is this analogy: Prog Rock, Ska, Punk and Jazz started a polycule then they all decided to collectively raise Ska Punk’s child. That kid grew up to become Diminishing Returns by Runaway Ricochet.

    This review was originally posted on June 13, 2024 on the Lonely Ghost Records Community Blog.