Life is a Breeze

Life is a Breeze



  • $20.00

 

This is The Brokedowns that all the nerds and drunks get down with: Jon brings the thunder, Kris brings the laughs, Eric will inevitably be shirtless, and Mustafa keeps a mean beat and rolls the spliffs. They take growly Midwest punk (à la D4, Lawrence Arms) and make it heavier, angular, and a little Hot Snakes-y. Laugh along with the song titles, sure, but these boys aren't f$%king around when it comes to social commentary. The Brokedowns know how to have a good time and they know how to write punchy punk jams, but what they do best is smack you on the ass with their words. "Life Is A Breeze" is an album for the party punks AND the smart punks.

TRACKLIST:

1 Joliet, The Maul Of The Midwest  
2 The Gospel Of Mustafa  
3 Life Is A Breeze  
4 Murder Junkie/CPA  
5 Everything Is Immoral  
6 Born On The Bayou Too  
7 What A Drag  
8 The End Is Not Near  
9 Bless This Mess  
10 Cash For Gold  
11 DIY Space Program
Backing Vocals – Ben Eads
 
12 Vapor Chase  
13 I Respect Your Right To Always Be Wrong About Everything
Guitar – Joe Gac
 
14 God Hates Math  
15 Keep Branson Weird
Backing Vocals – Chris Sutter
 
16

A Child's Guide To Black Metal

 

 



To describe The Brokedowns as just another Midwestern pop-punk band would be to sell the Elgin, Illinois four-piece extremely short. Yes, they’re from the Midwest, and yes, there are more than enough hooks and sing-along choruses to check all of the pop-punk boxes, but there’s so much more too, from impassioned shouts to clever, pointed lyrics, and it’s all deftly assembled on Life Is A Breeze. The record shows a band that, after a period of evolution, has figured out a sound all its own, and is now making the most of it.

If you’re familiar with the band’s past output, then you’re already aware that after starting out with a heavier sound on early records, The Brokedowns infused much more melody, to great effect, on their previous full-length, 2010’s Species Bender, and on a number of subsequent split 7-inches. On Life Is A Breeze, the band sticks with that sound and seems quite comfortable doing so.

The record kicks off with “Joliet, the Maui of the Midwest,” which serves as a sort of a tourism jingle for the band’s home region. It lays an effective foundation before the record launches into a series of standout tracks. “The Gospel of Mustafa,” “Life Is A Breeze,” “Murder Junkie/CPA” and “Everything is Immoral” are all as good, if not better, than anything on Species Bender, and “Murder Junkie/CPA” specifically hearkens back to that record with its similarity to “Loyal Looper (Theme From Renegade),” which is no bad thing. Unfortunately, there’s little time to come up for air, as the next handful of tracks, starting with “Born on the Bayou Too,” are just as strong. In fact, the quality stays high all the way through to the closer, “A Child’s Guide to Black Metal.”

As a whole, Life Is A Breeze is an extremely satisfying follow-up to Species Bender, taking everything that was great about that record and building on it. The one shame is that, coming so late in the year, Life Is A Breeze is likely to miss out on a spot on many year-end lists. It’s certainly an honor lost, though I’m not so sure The Brokedowns care about that sort of thing.

 

 

 

-- PUNKNEWS

There are no reviews for this product.

Write a review

Note: HTML is not translated!
Bad           Good
Captcha