Artist: Less Than Jake
Album: GNV FLA (2008)
Label: Sleep it Off Records
Score: 8.8/10
The famous Florida ska punk band Less Than Jake have been in the music industry for a long time. They have existed for eighteen years and the band is still creating tunes and releasing albums. They have also set up their own record label, Sleep it Off Records and some members started their own projects that they manage. Labelled as “GNV FLA” (The airport code of their hometown) contains 14 tracks.
This album has made an effective comeback for the band since the release of In With the Out Crowd brought a lot of disappointment from their fans. In GNV FLA, Less Than Jake delivers the ska tunes and horn parts that many adore. It is a good thing when you’ve seen a band change in the wrong way for the fans and the next thing you know, they have made up for it.
The tracks are all different in their own ways. “Does the Lion City Still Roar?” contains aggressive horn parts roaring throughout the song while the track, “The Space They Can’t Touch” has a more happier and poppy feeling to it. The track, “Malachi Ritscher’s Liquors Quicker” tells a story of a man who lit himself on fire as a way to protest. This album returns the horns and gives them more importance again unlike In With the Out Crowd. Their horns play some lovely melodies and their rhythms are quite catchy and fun to listen to. Not only does it offer ska tunes, there is also a speedy punk rock song, “Settling Son” which features the guitar playing much more harder and with lyrics about the hardships of settling.
Less Than Jake has successfully released a great album and has continued to impress the listeners with good quality music. The lyrics are sure to be memorable and are fun to sing along to and the melodies and rhythms are always creative. Overall, this album is surely great to listen to. Especially for the fans who thought In With the Out Crowd was terrible as this album will bring them back. In the end, the ska punk group who have gained a lot of fame over the years have made a truly great album.