Survay Says! – “Observations of the Human Condition”
Album Reviews | Mar 31st, 2014
Record Label: Asbestos Records
Genre: Ska/Ska Punk/Pop Punk
Survay Says! takes third wave ska and New Found Glory-esque pop punk, throws it in a blender, says fuck you to both genres and spits out something very unique and unheard of.
You can easily argue that plenty of ska bands throughout the years have leaned much more towards the poppier side of music than shied away from it…everything from the early Motown influences during the early years of ska, to the two tone era which relied heavily on pop music of 80’s to the Orange county sounds of the third wave…but Survay Says! is something different. In some songs there is a hard line drawn between the ska parts and the pop punk parts. The track “Show Me Potato Salad!” sounds like someone mashed up a song from “Dude Ranch” with a Less Than Jake tracks from “Hello Rockview”. Other songs , like “Denial” switch from ska to punk to ska-core seamlessly with disregard to musical structures.
Survay Says! has some friends in high places as they managed to pull some favors and bring in Joe Ragosta from Patent Pending and Dave McWane of Big D and the Kids Table for some guest spots on a couple of tracks. It’s fitting that they bring those two in because those two guys really represent the two genres where Survay Says! draw their musical influences from.
I’ll admit that it took me a couple of listens to really grasp what was going on with Survay Says!. Only having discovered them with this release, I really had no idea what to expect and after hearing “Observations of the Human Condition” for the first, second and third times I began to realize how unique the bands’ sound truly was. I’ve listened to a lot of ska bands and I’ve listened to a lot of pop punk bands and this album is a great representation of both genres. If more fans of these genres would get over the hang ups and animosity that they have for each other, then maybe they too could come to the realization of how awesome this album is and what Survay Says! has to offer. It’s like pop punk goes ska…where’s Fearless Records when you need them?
Bottom Line: A musical amalgamation of pop punk and ska pieced together like nothing I’ve heard before. This album would thrill fans of Less Than Jake and Big D and the Kids Table as much as it would fans of the Ataris and New Found Glory.
Notable Tracks: The awesome intro of “Marble Tower” that leads into “Ode To My Willpower (Or Lack Thereof)” combined, I Aim To Misbehave, This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, Denial, Show Me Potato Salad!
Overall Rating:
