This album is part of the results of the Super-hero themed and costumed Ska punk bands super successful crowd funding drive that apparently raised over $900000 to allow them to record 2 albums and 13 episodes of there TV show The Aquabats! Supershow!
The Aquabats! come out of the Orange County SoCal punk scene but are cheekier than most of the bands in that scene. They have also been around making super hero Punk since 1994.
This opens with the Avalanches meets B-52's oddness of Karate Body that makes sure you know just how much fun this album is going to be, this is poppy ska punk with it's tongue firmly in it's cheek and unleashes as many karate themed puns as they can fit into a less than 3 minute long song.
No One Wants To Party! Sounds like they have imagined what 2020 would be like as no one wants to come round for a party, only they don't list a pandemic among the reasons no one shows up on a song that is a bit Blink 182 but with a dubby breakdown to keep you guessing as to where there coming from other than the planet Kooky. Oh and yes Travis Barker from Blink 182 is one of the bands former drummers.
Skeleton Inside! is a slightly slower almost dubby ballad claiming they have a Skeleton Inside! of them and listening to this you can imagine how it might soundtrack a cartoon or kids show.
Bed Head! Is just quirky fun with odd backing vocals and the sort of story style lyrics about walking around with a Bed Head! And just how uncool they really might be, I can imagine a bunch of kids pointing at the kid they think has a Bed Head! Every time the title is mentioned.
Aliens And Monsters! Imagines what Aliens And Monsters! Would sing to them, yes it's gibberish rather than Klingon or Martian it has lots of weird space toy sounds that will probably sound like great fun to bounce around too like your on a zero gravity dancefloor.
The Walk Off! Is an anthem for kids with anger management problems who need to learn to do The Walk off! Every time the bile rises and they get ready to explode over the sort of fast frantic punk pop that Sum 41 used to do so well.
The single Dangerous Leon! Is next, now are they singing about Neon Leon or maybe even Craig Leon or a super hero amalgam of the two he's a super hero on a budget with some wonderfully weird squiggly guitar solo and other noises in the middle bit as we wonder just how Dangerous Leon! Really is.
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Pajamzon! Is a more ska led tune about being shut in and ordering everything from Amazon while not wanting to go outside ever again which feels very much like 2020 for a lot of people, I really like the brass section on this song and it in some ways feels like it's updating some of the ideas in Black Flags TV Party as lets face it going outside in 2020 is such a fright!
She's Gonna Live Forever! No its not a song about Hilary Clinton or Madonna and is as close as they get to a love song to a girl they think is immortal and so won't go out with them while stealing at least a bit of this song from I think Blancmange or a similar 80's act.
Sneak Attack! Sounds like the sort of cartoon music that happens before someone gets splatted or a wild chase that goes round in circles happens as they sing about the Sneak Attack! They are planning as the bass rumbles along.
The album then ends with a short reprise of Karate Body! Part 2 and after a false ending in comes a scatted dub bonus track about someone putting a shoe in your stew that sounds like a dubbed out tune that may owe a debt to Bootsy Collins Caspar The Friendly Ghost, it's a perfect fun upbeat end to a cool album as we all end things by singing "There's a yard sale at the Cracker Barrel!!" several times over like it's a normal thing to sing.
Find out more at https://www.theaquabats.com/ https://theaquabats.bandcamp.com/album/kooky-spooky-in-stereo https://www.facebook.com/theaquabats
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