Reviews

Flamingo

Coconut Planters Coconut Planters CD

Debut five-track self-produced/released effort from this new Italian quartet, self-confessed fans of the ’90s sounds of Fat Wreck Chords and Epitaph. Hence, unsurprisingly, there are buckets of driving melody, harmony, and rhythm in that time-honored style of NO USE FOR A NAME, FACE TO FACE, LAGWAGON, and, probably most immediately, Sweden’s MILLENCOLIN. Layered guitars and vocals abound. And they do it rather well. I have to say, I’m a fan of this genre, though it does pose a less immediate existential question on the nature of cultural imperialism, and homogeneity. If it wasn’t for the handy one-sheet, I would’ve bet my youngest child that these folks were from Orange County. On well.

Coconut Planters Upset Hopes CD

When I saw the name of this band and the album cover, my initial thought was “oh, a ska band.” I mean the name COCONUT PLANTERS screams upstrokes and “hep-hep”s to me, and the tiki-themed Kaiju on the cover didn’t help matters. I could not have been more wrong. The band actually plays nicely polished punk of the classic Fat Wreck/Hopeless/Fearless variety. While I’m generally not a huge fan of this type of sound, I can appreciate it when it’s presented well. All in all, a pretty solid effort. In fact, the only two skippers for me were the ska-tinged “Reggae For Yankeez“ and the last song, the acoustic ditty “San Antonio’s Fire”.