The Cool Kids – When Fish Ride Bicycles (REVIEW)

July 17, 2011 3 comments


iTunes is where fish ride bicycles.

The first time I heard a Cool Kids song was eons ago, back in ’08, when I was zoning to In Rainbows and perusing the deep depths of Myspace. Halfway through “House of Cards” I was interrupted by the abrupt bounce (profile songs rudely started automatically back then) of what I would come to fondly refer to as “Black Mags”. Since then, I’ve had my ears tightly affixed to what Chuck Inglish and Sir Michael Rocks (formerly, and preferably, Mikey Rocks) have to offer. In following the trajectory of The Cool Kids popularity, a lot has changed from labels, to collaborators, to the ever important issue of the resurgence of snapbacks. But, the one facet that’s remained is that signature Cool Kids sound. For better and for worse.


Revivalist is what you’d hear a lot of when The Cool Kids burst onto the scene, with their retro J’s, throwback jersey’s and boom-bap instrumentals. Everything about them seemed, and still seems, to be in great reverence to a time before theirs in hip hip. With When Fish Ride Bicycles, Chuck and Mikey dance around this model nimbly enough to call it a departure, but the basis of their style is so prevalent that they write themselves into musical corners in their efforts. “Bundle Up”, the first single, sounds like classic Cool Kids, with dead space built into the melody and hard drums ominously marching behind the duo’s rhymes, but so was “Pennies” two years ago. I’m not saying I wasn’t expecting to hear some overlapping motifs here, but their moves are so telegraphed that even the first listen sounds slightly taxing.

Getting past that feeling of familiarity isn’t too difficult, though, if you’re enough of a fan. The variation in beats gets ramped up on Fish, especially on the Travis Barker assisted “Sour Apples” which, not-too-surprisingly, has a great drum loop. Opener “Rush Hour Traffic” bursts with sampled “hey!” chants and some menacing guitar plucks. “Gas Station” marries Chucks cold beats with R&B flourishes that worked well on their flawed Gone Fishing tape from ’09. Also a surprise is the Mayor Hawthorne hooked “Swimsuits”. I speak completely frankly when I say this is by far my favorite song to listen to while in my swimsuit (Speedo) at the moment (though it does loose some of it’s luster sans Marc’s Rick Ross ad libs). In the same vein, “Summer Jam” grooves to one of two Neptunes beats in an attempt to dethrone Will Smith and Jazzy Jeff as summer song kings. It fails. But, I really dig the lighter, smoother side of The Cool Kids. The materialistic references and obsession with the 90′s got old with The Bake Sale.

Where WFRB falters is its failure to vary as many tracks as possible to keep the listener off guard. When you’ve got a centralized style as recognizable as The Cool Kids, songs like “GMC”, “Boomin”, featuring my future wife Tenille, and “Get Right” — which, if I may digress, can we call out Pharrell and Chad on their consistent phone-in habits? That same cheesy bassline is used every time they don’t feel like trying. EVERY. TIME. Anyway, under the formula used here, these tracks can get repetitive easily. The major issue isn’t that the beats sound too similar or the songs don’t reach far enough into the ideas that they explore (although that would help), it’s that many of these tracks sound unfinished. I mean, they’re mastered and mixed up to standard, but the compositions themselves don’t seem complete. And, for a debut release on a new Label, that’s a tough sell.

What seems to be a redeeming factor for a multitude of rap album nowadays is the guest list. Ghostface does work on the hardest beat here with his verse on “Penny Hardaway”, Bun B is in complete control on the aforementioned “Gas Station”, and “Roll Call” is essentially what it claims to be. That track, a lyrical death wish for Chuck and Mikey who are, let’s face it, not the most dazzling MC’s to touch the mic, features a personal favorite, Chip Tha Ripper, impressive newcomer Boldy James, and Asher Roth, who is steadily proving that his “I Love College” days are well behind him and were never meant to happen in the first place. Good Riddance.

The Cool Kids seem to have whatever it is they do well under control. As the climate of hip hop fluctuates with more pop influences than ever, The Cool Kids don’t shy away from trying to assimilate, but they don’t overhaul their disposition either. It’s hard beats and slick rhymes that got them here, and it’s hard beats and slick rhymes that will keep their credibility. Do they depart from that on this album? Yes. Does it work every time? Hell no. But, for what it’s worth, I don’t see a less genuine group because of these shortcomings, just an opportunity for more genuine album. Because this, as a whole, is not.

7.0/10