Some music is so buoyant and life-affirming it should really be prescribed on the National Health Service as a cure for various ills. The brand of ska-punk that Less Than Jake peddle has certainly done the band good because they’re still sounding as fresh and vibrant as when they first burst onto the scene in 1992. Over the course of three decades this Gainesville crew have released countless records whilst rolling with every punch that a fickle music industry could throw. Latest EP, Uncharted, serves up more of their trademark sauce and proves without a doubt that you can’t keep a good band down.
There’s a lot to be said for bands who give their fans exactly what they want; I’ve never brought an album by AC/DC, the Ramones or Status Quo and felt short-changed, and Less Than Jake, while certainly not generic, are cut from the same kind of cloth. Operating with an “if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it” kind of ethos Uncharted serves up seven tracks over twenty-one dizzying minutes and opening gambit ‘Broken Words’ acts as a portent of what’s to come. Punchy and pugnacious, it’s a balloon filled with helium that refuses to be tethered to the ground, it’s definitely not made for somnambulists and will have all but the firm and frail flailing and oscillating wildly.
It’s not just the band’s irrepressible beats that remain intact, it’s also a strong sense of humour that underpins pretty much everything they do. ‘Walking Pipebomb’ is just as explosive as the title suggests while the following ‘Not My Problem’ has an intro that brings to mind Deliverance(!) and that’s the kind of move that only a band such as Less Than Jake could get away with. It’s a fine line that the band walk between the trivial and the tenacious, but it’s one they walk with apparent ease. It means that when they inject some serious lyricism on ‘Dead Days (Over And Over)’ we are in no doubt about their sincerity. It’s a gift that only a select few artists possess and Less Than Jake are one of that number.
Whether you catch these songs live, at a skate park, or even walking down your local street they’re sure to initiate a reaction and get the good vibes flowing and with the current state of the world, we need Uncharted plotting a course more than ever.
- Uncharted is released via Pure Noise Records on 15th November 2024.
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Track List:
- Broken Words
- Walking Pipebomb
- Not My Problem
- Brand New Day
- Sunny Side
- Dead Days (Over And Over)
- Shake Loose The truth
