So, first off, the title of the last album by Stereotyperider Songs in the Keys of F and U is awesome. Second, the album reminds me a lot of No Knife’s Riot For Romance record. It has chrunchy punky guitars, some screaming, some delicious pop hooks and is overall solid but not outstanding, and a bit long with a few tracks not even worth paying attention to.
Sometimes I wish bands would just release EPs – three or four of their best songs – and not try to put together a whole album. It was an EP from Stereotyperider that first caught my attention a few years ago. It was the first of the “Under The Influence" series on Suburban Home Records. The series had artists release EPs of songs by bands that influenced them – Sterotyperider did an awesome 7-song collection of Fugazi, Pixies, Seaweed, Descendents, Quicksand and Cure covers. Having less songs makes a band put only their greatest ones forth, not fillers and unpolished studio songs. Bands sometimes need editors, like a newspaper reporter does, to cut out their excess bullshit that misses the point and doesn’t help the story.
If Stereotyperider had an editor on Songs in the Keys… it probably would have been another 7-song effort, instead of 14 tracks. All 14 tracks are pleasant enough but only a few are stellar. The band throws in a few instrumental tracks – something Fugazi always did (I think just to prove they are awesome musicians and don’t need to bark intelligent lyrics and ooze an ethos) – and mixes in a few tracks that don’t seem to have had time to percolate completely.
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