Album Review: Sunny Side Up - Paradise in the Sky

Ever get the urge to bust out the checkered vans, checkered sunglasses, checkered skinny tie, checkered hat, checkered (insert black and white accessory)?  Oklahoma City’s Sunny Side Up is here to make sure the third wave never dies in Oklahoma. Bands like The Ceiling Tiles, Tell It to the Brass (who turned into The Last Slice), Third Grade Scuffle, and others like them will never be forgotten in the ska scene; but after a while the ska/punk scene just died out in Oklahoma.

The album is a throwback to the mid-90s, with all of the standard ska-rock songs: a girl being cooler than you, not making it because you’re a ska band, being in a ska band, and so on. Combine the ska styles with the band’s love of anime and Japanese culture and you should hardly be surprised that they have comic style artwork, their own four part comic book series coming out, and Jun Senoue playing guitar on a track.

The sound of the album is very impressive for (what I understand) is mostly a DIY album. The two piece horn combo sounds powerful, and helps to direct the songs. The guitars drive on the rock parts and sound natural and pop on the skanky ska parts. On top of the sound, the album is just fun to listen to. I've said the word catchy a few times already, but it really does describe some of the songs. I currently have "Hipster Girl"on repeat.

A few critiques:

• the vocals are a little too overdone and layered too think for my tastes, but they make for some catchy choruses
• MORE BASS!
• four or five songs are from a previous EP. They’re some of my favorites, but people might already have half of the album.
• not enough songs about saying “fuck you” to hipster girls

This album is not reinventing anything, and it doesn’t really need to. Ska/punk in Oklahoma has been null for a long time. I am glad to see someone trying to keep it alive, and, so far, succeeding at it. Along with Classy San Diego, these guys have a pretty decent chance of making sure the punky skanky horn driven rock genre never goes away in the OK. This album is for the ska kids, by the ska kids. Not something recommended for the punx, but if you want to unwind and have some fun listening to catchy local music check, give this one a chance.