Manchester Punk Festival Releases 38th Compilation
Manchester Punk Festival have released the 38th volume of their compilation series ahead of this year’s festival. Manchester Punk Festival Vol. 38 is…
Anti-Fun Propaganda - Marshall Records
I’ve most definitely said this before and will without doubt say it again sometime. A band I’ve very sadly not heard before has landed like a firestorm upon my ears, a band thats made up of humans who are younger than I’ve ever been (this is because when I was that young, it was spent doing everything other than knowing what I was doing, or remembering anything), I just skipped to being old and not so wise, I actually envy such people, they seem to be so much more aware of life and the realities of it than I ever was back then. Anyway, let’s not delve to deeply into me and my misgivings, and get on with trying to explain how ridiculously raw, polished, loud, soothing, real, sad and movingly sarcastic Gen & The Degenerates are.
Anti-Fun Propaganda is an album, it follows an EP, this is as much info as I knew before listening to the said album, and to be honest I’m glad, this is a debut album that stands proudly with no baggage, a fresh Punk attitude with no need to follow any trendy or historical styles or sounds, songs that you can dance to or be flung into deep contemplation about, although the latter is also never held up too dramatically, the humour and absurdity knitted in among the seriousness never allows this to become too overbearing.
Flung straight into ‘Kids Wanna Dance’ your a little rabbit in the headlights, is this going to be just another pop album pretending to be something it’s not, simple answer no!, Gen’s vocal grabs you like a lasso and the fun side is of this album is laid bare, its a song that celebrates being alive but without forgetting just how fucked we all are “just dance” and it might go away, it’ll happen anyway. The feeling through this album is one of rial against this, rail against that, but don’t forget that having fun in life is also a major thing you should never give up. ‘Girls!’ Is a beat laden celebration of the offbeat, it’s, I think (don’t forget, I’m a little uneducated) a rhetorical look at how men look at girls from a girls perspective. The title track ‘Anti-Fun Propaganda’ wades in next, lyrically it does what it says on the tin, don’t let the social and political agendas spoil our fun, musically diverse and full of funk, what more could you want.
If you listen intently, this is a very outspoken and socially aware slice of art, but if you want outright in your face truth, ‘Thats Enough Internet For Today’ anti-social media is a term that rings out here, friends are such a false entity, this is driven home so succinctly and without moderation. At the halfway point we are met with a stunning and what seems out of character acoustic track, ‘Plan B’ and as it says in brackets the “Interlude” is when you get chance to really hear Gen’s stunning vocal at its best, even though the general feel throughout this album is of not taking things too seriously, we do still have moments where reality creeps in, this is a moment of introspective, do we need that Plan B in life, the place we can go to and be free from the chains.
The second half of the album carries on where the first half left off, with just as much zest for trying to unpick the minefield of growing up in a world that gets more and more relentless in it stresses and complexities, ‘Famous’ is a dark and satirical look at celebrity and self worth with an overcoat of sugar, ‘Big Hit Single’ booms like K Pop on acid, its the next big thing, or is it?….., ‘Post Cool’ uses all the psychedelic dance it can muster, dreams of being the cool are replaced by being simply being trendy and no more. And now comes the show stopper, ‘Judes Song’ is where this album stops and reflects on mortality and grief and all that this brings to the dying and the living all at the same time, an emotional web thats punctuated with music thats fits like a warm cocoon.
Are you looking for music thats there to challenge, but be easy to listen to, songs that are full of diverse sounds, from electronic dance beats, fuzzy bass lines, drums that switch from funky to punchy, and guitars that sing with anger and sincerity, then you won’t be disappointed. A debut that stands loud and proud!
Out on February 23rd via Marshall Records Pre-Order HERE
Check out the bands social HERE