LA skate-punk screaming about the downfalls of hedonism

“Fuck it dog, life‰’s a risk‰” is the short answer to anything FIDLAR does, including the LA quartet‰’s second full length album, Too. The song titles give listeners an idea of what to prepare themselves for: “40oz. on Repeat,‰” “Stupid Decisions,‰” “Punks,‰” and a few other hints at the tiresome life that results when you do whatever you want. The album takes off with coked-up tempos and continues into screams of frustration backed by surfy West coast riffs.

FIDLAR is able to maintain the spirit of a bunch of dudes on a bender having fun with their band. Too keeps up with all the high energy and electricity that turns their audiences into a riot of debauchery- it‰’s an infectious thrill that draws fans in and throws elbows all over. Yet, the band seems to demonstrate growth from their 2013 release with strong composition structure and a surprisingly cohesive album flow.

This party‰’s been going on long enough that some fouls have been inevitable. Too starts off where peaking ends, when cheap beer and blackout stout isn‰’t fun anymore. Frontman Zac Carper has been vocal about his struggles with addiction, and the album narrative sheds an honest light on reconciling the punk lifestyle with the habits that emerge within it. With new stories come creative expressions; “Sober‰” has offputting rhythm stops as the vocals vent against being told what to do and promises life sucking as you get older. “Overdose‰” is a shift from banging snare drums and instead falls into a dramatically ominous western strumming as Carper mumbles “anything to get a fix/ I just wanna feel / something real‰” and “I‰’m just gonna stay stuck/ inside my head/ and I just wish that/ I was dead.‰Û

The album resolves with a long redemption tale, a soft melodic slowdown about sipping whiskey and coke, addressing both the difficulty of recovering (“every morning I wake up/ I just wanna give up/ but I guess I gotta do it again‰Û) as well as an responsibility in owning a bad habit. The song picks up out of the intense mid-album rock bottom to mimic the style of the opening, having completed a full rotation right back into living in the moment. Though there‰’s a lesson to be learned and a hopefulness in being one week sober: “I just wanna try.‰Û

Don‰’t worry, the album is still a FIDLAR release. It relies strongly on surf-rock foundations and the vast majority of the songs are top-notch “screaming out a car window‰” quality. Too simply offers validation to the anger and desolation that can underscore that burning desire to yell at the world.

-Barbara Martinez

Recommended: 1, 3, 5, 6

RIYL: The Orwells, Wavves, Bass Drum of Death