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It's been a while since a genuine ska-punk release dropped in my mailbox, so this one came in catching me quite cold for the style. Amidst all the current flow of slick produced power-punk, a good skanking CD should have pleased me, and Gainesville, Florida always has good soil for cultivating good bands.

The Know How has been around for about seven years (this being their third full-length) and has had a busy time touring with bands like the Planet Smashers, Mustard Plug, the Toasters and Streetlight Manifesto. Catchy horns and sci-fi moog licks should get you off your feet, but unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed about the level of energy that came from the release after the otherwise rather good first 3 songs. At times, I had the feeling that I sometimes have with some of Mad Caddies' more recent recordings, where there's too much attention paid to producing a slow-skanking, more heartfelt kind of sound, which pours a lot of the energy down the drain.

Nevertheless, there's quite some fun going on here, and I'm sure that fans of the genre will enjoy this much more than I did. Also, I'm pretty sure that a live performance by this band has more to offer than listening to this through my headphones. Fact is, the recordings sound a bit basic and the quite bland vocals are not really outstanding in my eyes. I think I just like my ska-punk a bit more guitarded and hefty than this gathering of songs. Thumbs up for the first couple songs and the fun moog inclusion though.






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    Posted by Psychoos231 on 2005-03-09 03:48:10

    LoC sucks compared to a lot of the real ska bands out there

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, March 8, 2005 at 11:50 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    Score is for them being decent guys. The genre is dead except for the good LOC and the Stoics.

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, March 7, 2005 at 7:20 PM (EST)

    how do you know when you suck.

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, March 7, 2005 at 7:20 PM (EST)

    bitch

    Posted by PsychoOS231 on 2005-03-05 21:36:20

    Check out the HappyFunRobotKillTime, its a better album.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, March 5, 2005 at 9:26 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    I thought was the only one who loved ska...guess not

    Posted by iheartadam on 2005-03-05 19:53:39
    My Score:

    Why am I the only one who likes ska, yet thinks the Mad Caddies were crap? And the Aquabats too. Wait...it's because I'm not from the OC....now I get it!

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 4, 2005 at 9:33 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    "You lost me at "It's been a while since a genuine ska-punk". Yikes I hate ska

    -Chris-"

    This coming from a guy who likes Audio Learning Center..hahaha

    Posted by bemused on 2005-03-04 20:23:00

    You lost me at "It's been a while since a genuine ska-punk". Yikes I hate ska

    -Chris-

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 4, 2005 at 5:23 PM (EST)

    best band ever

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 4, 2005 at 12:33 PM (EST)

    It's "6" week.

    -Chinatown

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 4, 2005 at 11:31 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    I saw them like 2 or 3 years ago. Not bad.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 4, 2005 at 11:26 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    Definately one of the best upcoming ska/punk bands. Nice guys too. They gave me and my friends a bunch of free stickers because we were the only people at this show there to see them. Score is for free stickers.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 4, 2005 at 9:48 AM (EST)

    Good band.

    Joe

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 4, 2005 at 1:19 AM (EST)

    Annoying eh? You should have beat those other six people.

    Posted by theundergroundscene on 2005-03-04 01:03:52

    i saw this band on a monday night with 6 other people

    it was awkward

    and they were kinda annoying

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 4, 2005 at 12:44 AM (EST)

    I don't think we can trust a guy who gave the F-Ups a 41/2 star review.

    Posted by Psychoos231 on 2005-03-04 00:30:50
    My Score:

    Nice review sir. I'll be sure to pick this baby up.

    Posted by notfeelingcreative on 2005-03-04 00:30:23
    My Score:

    I don't care, this band has always been alot of fun live, i'm on my third copy of "happyfunrobotkilltime", I haven't heard the album yet, but the songs they've played live the last few times have sounded good!

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