The unique blend that Pink Punk offer of a mixture of elements from metal, punk, hip-hop, slam poetry, spoken word & electronica to name but a few and other parts which can only be described as rambling is definitely an acquired taste. One I have fully acquired.The first album Pink Punk released in 2006 'Zoo Politics' quite honestly blew my mind.
The first album brought with it a blend of various musical styles, something I thoroughly enjoyed and along with that quite overtly political lyrics particularly in the flagship track Yapolitical. the album did not hold back on its attacks on capitalist society and how celebrity culture is blinding the masses to the truth. This can all be summarised in one line from the album 'Kylie move your plastic ass, your blocking out the genocide'.
This follow up album did not disappoint with the added bonus of appearances on the album of the Excentral Tempest and Bill Hicks (posthumously) Zombie God Delicious provides an excellent listening experience both musically and in terms of lyrical content. So lets take a look at the tracks.
The opening track 'Universe on tap' brakes in slowly but then talks about the bad situation facing people in the style accustomed to Pink Punk but in the same style explained that forces of ordinary people can change things.
The second track, 'Pink Punk Presents' starts of much quicker, indeed it flows straight from the previous track. A much more fast paced track which offers us the organised lyrical chaos associated with Pink Punk so much.
The third track, 'Catalogue Democracy' starts of with much more aggressive beats. Again with the customary ramblings, to me is this track Yap is attempting to tackle the hypocrisy of capitalist society, but also the resistance developing against this with particular reference to the Seattle riots.
The next track, 'Old Enough to Die, Old Enough to Listen' makes it clear that we should not hide the truth of society from young people and they should not be shielded from the reality. Clearly pointing out that the current setup is about greed rather than people. and the tracks finishes suddenly with a bang.
Bill Hicks makes an appearance on the next track 'Advertising' which has for the intro a segment of Hicks stand up performance ranting against advertising. It doesn't stop at Bill Hicks speech and indeed the whole track is a tirade against the role advertising plays in society, and its effects of ordinary people, one of the best tracks on the album if not the best.
'Down a Hole with Alice' is the next offering. My interpretation is that this track is a tirade against the life capitalist society claims to offer us, and how we must in someway fight for our own culture. This is my interpretation of this track and maybe I am reading to much into it. Nevertheless this track is full of interesting lyrical and musical content
Track 7 brings us 'Lollipops' This track seems to be putting forward the idea the he (that is the vocalist Yap) could have quite clearly bought into the capitalist ideology and been everything they wanted him to be, but chose instead to resist it.
Up next is 'Press the Panic Button' which offers a tirade against organised religion and offers alot musically as well is an excellent addition to the album.
The Excentral Tempest makes an appearance on this track 'Rockstars' and this is definately the high point of the track, as ever providing insightful lyrics and an awesome vocal style. and don't really know how else to describe it so I suggest every take a listen.
Track 10 'Calling Time' a much more sombre track, a much slower pace from the previous tracks. a good point at which to reflect on the album so far. Yap talks about how he is at war with the world, how he trying to spread the word as far as possible. From the mood of the song, it becomes clear that this struggle he is involved with is something he is deeply saddened by. sentiments I can completely agree with. The fight for a better society is not something I necessarily enjoy but something I see as necessary.
The penultimate track 'Freedom' is a departure from the politcal lyrics seen on the rest of the album, but that in and of itself is a political stament, with the title Freedom it is a reminder as to why we are fighting for an alternative society, so we can truly enjoy the things around us such as music free from the dictates of big business.
The final track 'Outer Space' flows perfectly from the last track. It talks about how we cannot afford to sit back and do nothing. Then Yap bursts in with a last stab at his ranting as ever though, parts of it definately resemble more of a rambling. An interesting ramble never the less. The track ends with an acapella session from the Excentral Tempest who brings a medly of her lyrics fro her album with Sound of Rum, definately a good way in which to end the album.
The whole album is a great listening experience to follow on from the debut album 'Zoo Politics' and well worth a listen, this review is by no means complete, there are many topics on this album not covered in the review, and of course the review on many of the lyrics are clearly my interpretation to them.
I would definately encourage everyone to take the time to listen to this album. Unfortunately all of Pink Punks works are incredibly hard to come by, but it can be streamed at Spotify so you can make a judgement for yourself.
I must say Glyn that I never thought I would be looking at your blog and finding a decent album review.
ReplyDeletewhy not?
ReplyDeleteyou do seem to be slightly SP barmy. Good to see that culture in the wider sense intrudes.
ReplyDeleteI have simply reported on events that have been happening, and alot of events have been happening to do with the SP of late. but if you recall from my original blog post entitled EVERYONES FAVOURITE COMRADE' I will attempt to cover all subjects within society over time and because capitalist seeps through every aspect of society all my posts will be political.
ReplyDeleteWhich is of course the case with this article
yes, a decent review of the books you read would be good. I did plan to review every book I read, until I realized it took the fun out of reading. a good 'every other' review is the plan.
ReplyDeletei do indeed plan to do that, it may take the fun out of it but i need to get into the the habbit of academia of that kind, as I am once again a student.
ReplyDeleteI'm currently reading origin of the species, I'm reading it quite slowly though due to being interupted by journals and websites, but eventually there will be a review of that up here
yes, I read it after reading Dawkins. Must say I prefer the master to the hackish disciple. To be viciously against religion on intellectual snobbery grounds would cut you off from the majority of the worlds poor workers and farmers.
ReplyDeleteyes but despite much of darwins work being in agreement with marxism, darwin was not in agreement with marxism and was not involved in any of his work for what he saw as political means
ReplyDeletehi glyn,
ReplyDeletealbum looks good, and i did some digging and it turns out that one of them (lead singer i think) if from one minute silence who i really liked.
can't get the spotify thing to let me on it so could i borrow this of you at some point?
also, you should submit a review of this to the Socialist
yeah the lead singer is from one minute silence Pink Punk started because he was doing political speaking tours and it kind of developed from that.
ReplyDeleteI only have the first album on disc so i can lend you that which is the best album IMO anyway
It's gone a bit quiet on here, have you said all you wanted to say?
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great album once you get into it.
ReplyDeleteOn the other side of the coin, for the uninitiated it does sound like the ramblings of a mad Irish man, which can be painfully embarrassing/comical to listen to.
However, the jist is there and it gets me fired up even if I'm not particularly politically minded and not sure exactly what the specific aim/focus/references are about.
I go through phases to be honest and sometimes I will put the album aside and dismiss it as junk that fails to connect relevantly, but at other times it's an absolute work of art that says so much to me, even if not explicitly. It's certainly inspiring to know that guys like this exist who aren't dupes and are not afraid to stand in opposition. I'm sure the material presented is intellectually sound but this is hard to validate without some significant research. I had some faith in Eddie Stratton but I was never sure where Yap was coming from.
I actually almost wish for a 3rd album from Pink Punk as opposed to OMS reformed as it's a bit more innovative. Advertising reworked with Massy was amazing. But then again I haven't heard any new OMS stuff.