Bobby Funk

Longing For The Bonging

Written by: MAK on 15/06/2020 16:22:23

Just two years on from ‘Avocado Stains’, a record that was amusingly shaped like an avocado, Falmouth punks Bobby Funk are back! This time with their highly anticipated debut album ‘Longing For The Bonging’ on TNS records, the bands most infectious offering yet.

The album opens with a Dunch, a punchy punk track about Dame Judy Dench being an eating machine with the "henchest lunch". We're treated to fuzzy riffs and shouted vocals, but there is a quirky, fun tone to the delivery. It's a somewhat silly track and this sets the tone for most of the album. "I'm a Cat" follows with more of the same silliness lyrically, with a chorus that is basically "I'M A CAT, FUCK YOU, MEOW!". The musically this one is faster, and harder hitting, a more urgent rocker with a catchy chorus. "Put Your Hands on the Car" is a hilarious 30-second blast that combines samples from ex-BBC producer Fergus Beeley having road rage and some beatdown style hardcore breakdowns. "K Grind" follows as an erratic hardcore punk/ skate punk track emulating what it's like to be on ketamin, overall it's fast, aggressive and chaotic, explaining right at the end that "There's absolutely nothing to gain from K Grinds unless you're clinically insane."

Breakfast Means Breakfast is easily my favourite track on the album, opening with the line "It's called a Full English, not a Full European" poking fun at the Brexit Means Brexit slogan as well as the whole shambles of the campaign. Lyrically it's extremely clever, using items of a "Full English" breakfast as things up for debate in a trade deal, comparing them to European dishes like Chasson aux Pommes or frittatas. Lines such "Getting breakfast done at the end of the day" and "I didn't realise doing breakfast could be so difficult" just poke more fun at how the tories have handled Brexit. It's fun and an outright anthem.

Side B starts with "Best Friends with Kanye", another chaotic, fast hardcore punk track about what it would be like to be best friends with Kanye West, with the music emulating the frantic lifestyle you would be living. "Onion Eyes" is a tale of woe of what it's like to cut and cook onions and how your eyes reaction "Searing pain, searing pain, searing fucking pain, will I ever be the same again?" might be an overreaction, but it's another fun track about random things in life. "Povvo Goblin" takes a look into the fantasy worlds and compares the poverty-stricken goblins in the Tolkein world to the better off Gringotts goblins in the Harry Potter-verse. A song about pure classism. There's a simple, fast British-twanged punk atmosphere in the tone of Subhumans that lingers over this one, there's a cool little brass section towards the end that leads into random, but fun waltz rhythm. The album then closes with "Gammon Club", ripping into the type of Brexit loving Brits that wear England shirts, have bulldog tattoos, love a vindaloo, but believe "If you're an Indian you can go back too". It's another catchy anthem that could easily be a single.

"Longing For The Bonging" overall combines a melodic punk, skate punk and hardcore in a way that doesn't take itself too seriously, the topics are a dead give away. It reminds me a bit of Wonk Unit with a bit more urgency. I came into this album expecting good things and I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I found myself enjoying this album a lot more than I originally anticipated. It's not often you get a release where you like every track. The switches between chaotic tendencies to something a bit more fun and anthemic are a nice mix of styles that complement each other well.

9

Download: Breakfast Means Breakfast, Gammon Club, Dunch, I'm a Cat
For The Fans Of: Wonk Unit, Aerial Salad, Casual Nausea, Knife Club
Listen: Facebook

Release date 06.03.2020
TNSrecords

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