Ungdomskulen - Ordinary Son

First, the bad news: Ungdomskulen's 2007 release "Cry-Baby" will not save dance-punk as we know it. I wanted it to, and after listening to this track, you'll want it to, but the album simply isn't that great as a whole.

The good news, however, is we still get treated to a few sparkling gems that hopefully foreshadow a very bright future for Norway's Ungdomskulen. "Ordinary Son", the first and best track off of "Cry Baby", combines arpeggiated overdriven guitar with a punchy bassline, all while not swaying far from the ticka-ticka sixteenth notes that restore my faith in the high-hat as a viable part of the drumset. This is no exercise in discipline, however. This is a full on, seven-and-a-half-minute progged out jam. It's got two seperate sections for gods sake. Imagine if Fugazi dropped all that political mumbo-jumbo and decided they wanted to make arena rock, or if The Dismemberment Plan decided lyrics were for suckers and embraced their inner Muse. Okay, this track is way better than either of those two ideas sound, but still, it comes close to explaining "Ordinary Son" and all its goodness.

Ordinary Son:
http://www.mediafire.com/?nzm5byu4jvm