White House Crooks - Punk As Funk

White House Crooks - Punk As Funk / 2005 Self Released / 13 Tracks / http://www.whitehousecrooks.cjb.net / Reviewed 08 August 2005

Following in the same vein as local bands like The Freedumb Fries, White House Crooks replaces the ska sound of the aforementioned Fries with a more brash, crusty type of sound. This makes the brand of punk that the White House Crooks play into something like Antiseen or anything that came out of the 82 UK scene. Much like the bands of that era, the mastering is incredibly rough and a fuzz resides throughout the majority of the CD. Even if the tracks on �Punk As Funk� are only 90 to 150 seconds, there begins to be a problem even as early as �Victims� with the prevalence of the same back and forth from the lead to the chorus vocals. Having this nuance on and off again is not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination, but to fill a disc with it seems more than a little obsessive.

It is thus tracks that break away from the disc that are the shining stars of �Punk As Funk�; �Hatred� is one of these tracks as it puts differing time signatures and a greater amount of harmony into the mix. Tracks like �I Believe In Unity� show the beginning of what could be a very solid sound, but the track itself sounds as if it was rushed to disc without having much in the way of though5t about the melody and style. �Sell Out Society� is a track that is hamstrung by the weak recording style on the disc; the backing drum-0beat (before the crashing cymbals rule the day) really are beautiful, but are hidden behind so many layers of instrumentation and fuzz that it becomes virtually impossible to hear them.

Something that happens much too much on �Punk As Funk� is that the focus of the beginning of tracks really tends to break up towards the end of the track. �Last Call� may just be the only track that is able to maintain its cohesion through its entirety. The White House Crooks have came through with some interesting arrangements and a different style of punk than the predominantly pop-punk Lancaster scene has came up with in the past, but there are some problems that need to be sorted out before they can really succeed as a more national type of band. Here�s to hoping that the next album by the Crooks comes out a step farther than the band placed itself at the end of �Punk As Funk�.

Top Tracks: Red, White and Selfish , Sell Out Society

Rating: 5.8/10