Chandrabaga/Outloud! Records, 25 June 2021
FATRACE plays game of one-upmanship on debut full-length.
About a year ago, I came across Swell Crusher, an EP by Indonesian pop punks FATRACE. I knew nothing about them and hadn’t heard them before, but I fell pretty hard for the record, listening to it repeatedly throughout the summer and championing it in a review from the time. Since, I’ve heard another couple songs of goodness and was absolutely thrilled to hear they joined up with Outloud! for a full length debut. Finally, here it is: Tropical Pleasure is the name, and it’s coming for brains.
Tropical Pleasure feels aptly named. The songs are inherently summer-vibing pop songs and there’s not a clunker amongst them. Take opener “Personal Straight-Edge Anthem Part 2”. This one goes by in 31 seconds, buzzing along with start-and-go stuff and crazy good vocal hooks. Follow-up “Jusenkyo” is catchy as can be with its surprising (and doubled-up) vocal melody, a terrific bass-driven break, and a guitar lead for the ages. Or maybe it’s better to check out the silly feel-good “Jelly’s Time” and it’s rising vocal melody and contagious “ba ba ba” and “ooh-whoa-ooh” vocal parts. This one hits when all the music (sans the drums) drops out for another “ba ba ba” part. It’s bubblegum on uppers. And closer “Fellination Attack” knocks the chorus out of the park with some Beach Boys-inspired backing vocals that rival Don’t Back Down-era Queers songs. But those aren’t the only good ones.
The previously reviewed pre-release singles “Bertamasya” and “Fun Fun Fun” are pop punk juggernauts, loaded with singalongs or humalongs and more of the Beach Boys-style backing vocals mentioned above. And maybe my favorites, “Leaving The Planet” and “Do You Wanna Go To Jaipur?”, get me dancing along (and I’m no dancer). “Leaving The Planet” has some fantastic fun-in-the-sun vocal melodies, call-and-response parts, and “1-2, 1-2-3” call outs that all add up to a catchy memorable good time. “Do You Wanna Go To Jaipur?” messes with a catchy repetitive refrain and a guitar riff that lands right where I want it to. And the backing vocals are maybe my faves on the record as they repeat the title over and over in a melodic manner that brands my brain. I dare you to hear this shit and not smile at the unequivocally good time you’re hearing.
FATRACE is the real deal. This is the bubblegum singalong pop punk full length I was hoping for, loaded with great songs, all the pop hooks I could hope for, and a chainsaw guitar attack straight from the Ramones playbook. Good luck listening to these songs and not having them stick around in your head. You’ll want to come back again and again.
Favorite song: “Leaving The Planet”
Favorite moment: the “ba ba ba”’s on the ridiculous “Jelly’s Time”
Favorite whatever else: the instant exhilaration I felt when the first notes of opener “Personal Straight-Edge Anthem Part 2” hit, knowing a good time was ahead
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He’s very secretive, he might be an alien.
