Good Riddance Reviewed
Good Riddance
My Republic
(Fat Wreck Chords)
Not your high schooler’s punk band; bring your dictionary to the pit, chillins.
In the first nine lines of their seventh album, California’s Good Riddance use the words “tidewater bell,” “cipher,” and “shadows of experimental bliss.” Someone’s supposed to mosh to that? Excuse me if I skipped that page in the Convenient Anarchist’s Guide To Kafka. Otherwise, My Republic is explosive. While it threatens to turn into entering a streetfight with a working knowledge of Ming battlefield tactics, Russ Rankin settles and delivers his polemics on Bush and indecision with conviction. As a band, Good Riddance like fast and easy, rifling through the chord notebook without regard for innovation, just speed. Rankin is equally free of nuance — “Hey choir! Have you heard about Jesus?” — though with enough “whoa-ohs” and anthems like “Darkest Days” they aren’t looking to start the war, just make sure the fight is continued.
— Kevin Keegan
Click here to download “Shame.”
