Funny Looking Kids

Picture Day (FastMusic)
by Scott Hefflon

Superfast punk with way snotty vocals and, dear God, skapunk (once described as the sound of throwing yet another shitty, trendy CD into a wastebasket), luckily from the flutter-picking, Skanking Pickle-end of the pool. Funny Looking Kids (F.L.K. for short [and to sound cool]) are from Charleston, South Carolina which, as determined in The Frownies review, is located just south of North Carolina. They’ve been compared to Naked Raygun and Op Ivy by people who feel compelled to compare things to things. And while, to be honest, I like skapunk as much as rugburn on my balls, F.L.K. do it surprisingly inoffensively. I think it’s cuz they play it so goddamn fast and then get the hell outta Dodge.

These guys remind me of old school ’80s punk (Minor Threat, 7 Seconds [well, Walk Together…]) because of their blinding barrage of guitar riffing and that voice-pushing-’til-it-cracks energy that Guttermouth occasionally still musters. And that’s why I like it. Sure, there’s an Op Ivy/early Rancid feel in some of the slower umPA, umPAs and chickita-chickita ca-ca (is that like Chitty-chitty bang-bang?), but let’s not dwell on it, hmm? Things to write home about: the near-metal madness of the “Medication” that plods darkly like Sabbath with the radio dial in yer brain stuck between stations, the hillbilly breakdown extro to “Middle of the Country,” the utterly weird “Undercover Anarchist” (part arty spookiness, part twisted riffery like DK usta do), and the untitled bonus track at the end in which a dog barks along to a jazzy little stroll.
(www.fastmusic.com)