Faintest Idea
Put Your Mouth Where your Money Is
By Jillian Abbene
(SugarBuzz Richmond)
band pixs by crazy eddie
SugarBuzz Magazine
Faintest Idea’s ambitious goal to hitting every kind of punk there is, might just work. The new CD entitled, ‘Put Your Mouth Where your Money Is,’ taps into a crossover of tight old-school revisioned punk with aggressive Ska. Leaving no mistake, this band can draw a serious live crowd. Jammed packed into 15 songs, there is something for every punk…from the street-punked catchy gang-chorus, to the hard-coring swirling speed of the circle-pit, even the skin-headed dance skanker can let loose in this unique form of syncopated Ska. There simply is no excuse to not participate.
Although it wasn’t until their second song’ ‘Acceptance,’ that I was able to wrap my head around the intensed fury of chorded-energy, a buzzing fast-beat of staccato horns and a single guitar scale sears just below the radar. As the catchy tooted horns and sax themes along Sam’s shouted vocal rasps, there is a join-in on the chorus: “ACCEPT US NOW! No minds just like robots on a belt, ACCEPT US NOW! Our words behind blinds doesn’t matter how their dealt, ACCEPT US NOW We need some respect to think and reflect, ACCEPT US NOW! Every time we open mouths we alter dialect.” The signature chorus back-up shouts play an important part in their sound--intercepting in conviction. The fuzz-guitar blankets Stash’s [also in The Dead Pets and Acid Drop], that trumpet-toot in melody, filling it between the undercurrent of drum syncopations. Sax-and-horns meet again with the chorus blurps between verses. The M8 accapella creates an outlet for the gang-chorus in just enough time to get in the last word.
In that fuzzed-guitar fury, the sax holds the front-noted melody in, ‘United? Kingdom.’ Switching vocals, Dani’s shouts thread in blurted strategy all on the first verse. Even with the fierced intensity of the guitar, there is a damned catchiness that is guaranteed to break out a ho-down in the circle pit. Forcing his gravelly vocals thru verse all before the Oi’s (which is a part of their tempoed package) Sam allows room for the bridge to showcase the ever-reminding sax style of Xray Spex’s frontwoman, Lora Logic. Within the rat-a-tat of snare drums, it’s the back-up vocals that emphasize each individual word, clearly punctuating a punch of passion with repeated conviction.
In a theatrical suave edge, it is Dani who opens with, ‘Easy Now Rude Boy,’ with joining Oi’s before the slide-in guitar sneer is altogether taken over by a barrage of hard-core guitar chords. The chorus repeats of, ‘Easy Now Rude Boy,’ encapsulates all on queue—coupled with those little fits of syncopated drums, as the beat switches back to the danceable Ska beat. It’s the sax and trumpet that strings the spurting tooted melody much like a party horn, from start to finish.
‘Not Tonight,’ slithers soulfully with sax, bass, and keyboards. The keyboards add a sense of a fanfare carnival along side the Ska beat. Although Dani’s verses are more croon than blurts, it smoothes over to an affective and sultry melody. Noteably, it is the slithering sax that controls the melody. Despite the bridge in a lower registry of blues-riff, it is clear that this song is a universal dance song. The gang chorus and backups croon over the silky bass solo to a saxy ending.
‘Stand Tall,’ should be Faintest Idea’s motto and theme song. The Ska guitar and sax melody layer all in the same mid-tempoed beat. It isn’t until the second instrumental verse does Dani start to rattle off guttural cough-lyrics with the lightning speed of an auctioneer. Along side The Clash vein, this is a really great mix of punk in Ska. The keyboard solo is added framework to the prideful lyrics ending in steady rooted Ska with a sax riff.
‘See You In The Gutter,’ [also featured on the TNS CD], is a light-hearted melody with pockets of fuzzed chords and drum triplicates. The M8 groove is ensued by a mayhem of hard-core cadence that weds in Sam’s piercing rock-n-roll guitar riff. With its chorus-melody and sax, this song’s energy is the most identifiable of the tracks. As an eventful drinking tune I’m sure, the audience will participate in this chorus.
Back within the steady mid-tempo, ‘Why Don’t Rich Kids Go To War,’ can have the Rancid stamp placed slightly to the left as they deliver with their own brand of frostbited Ska. Sam adds more bark and bite on the more monotone verses as the chorus croons keeps the melody danceably noteworthy--even up to the midway bridge. It’s here that there is a pace-change to a slower reggae beat with the drum lags. Just then, it is Sam who adds in his last gargled fightin’ words before the veer-off keyboard jam-crash.
In street punk fashion, ‘Rivers of Red,’ opens this time with Sam’s accapella verse—which by now, the listener instinctually recognizes that this is a just a precursor setup for a massive beating of banging guitar-chords. The sax doesn’t add their two cents worth until the middle, leaving the track with more angst than fluff. The guitar riff adds something fierce to the crash at the end.
There’s no question that Faintest Idea’s versatility and hyped-up ambitious Ska, steeping in tuneful angst, will surely be infectious enough to carry them anywhere and everywhere.