Stuck Lucky

Dry Drowning [7 inch] (2009)

Brian Shultz

Stuck Lucky ramble along with another new batch of aggressive ska-punk tunes to chew on. Dry Drowning is a quick, four-song 7" that finds the band hitting their stride in some respects but missing a bit in others.

The recording on this is crisp and allows the band's heavy sort of groove in the opening title track to drive the song and provide steady upstrokes, punchy, understated horns, and a vocal delivery reminiscent of the Suicide Machines' Jay Navarro on Steal This Record. All the elements really seem to coalesce greatly for the band on this one.

But the lyrics for "Personal Stalker"/"Cat" are weird and discomforting, and it's musically not quite interesting enough to save it, while "Tag" seems simplistic and too straightforward to be impacting--it kinda reminds me of Gorilla Biscuits' "Slut."

And just when you think the 7" is steadily going downhill, vinyl closer "Plug-In to Connect" gives some much more interesting ideas, with more ornate percussion and dynamic vocals that go from that muttered shout to more gravelly urges.

Overall, though, that means Dry Drowning has two eh tracks and two pretty solid ones and making it just about the best release Stuck Lucky has yet produced.

STREAM
Dry Drowning
Personal Stalker / Cat
Plug-In to Connect