Review
The Capitalist Kids
Lessons on Love, Sharing, and Hygiene

Holy Lookout Records! The Capitalist Kids’ Lessons on Love, Sharing, and Hygiene bears some stark similarities to the output of seminal 1980s-1990s East Bay pop-punk label. With an ear for clean melodies and crisp chords, the songs are quick, catchy, and witty in similar fashion to early-era Green Day, Mr. T Experience, or Screeching Weasel. It’s a sound that is familiar to listeners and can easily be butchered yet, when done right, it packs a refreshing punch.

Maybe it’s just because I haven’t heard this style in some time, but Lessons On Love… is a refreshing piece of pop-punk. Like the intro stated, this style is far from new and the songs have a sense of familiarity even on first listen—but it’s not an, “Oh, I’ve heard this before”—there’s an authenticity than comes through rather than an simple aping. Touching on a range of mostly serious topics (albeit with a fun touch), the band considers Ayn Rand, deregulation, Ben Weasel’s antics and, yes, more than a few songs about girls. It’s less Teenage Bottlerocket and more MTX as far as the lyrical tone goes, with the songs being a little cute but not novel—a tight rope to walk. For example, the refrain of “Corporations are your friends/ just put all your faith in them” in “Never Fear, Capitalism is Here!” is clearly tongue-in-cheek, yet the dramatic tone of the music and the earnest vocal delivery makes the listener consider the whole of song rather than just the jokey lyrics. They wisely keep the songs quick and to-the-point before the repetition gets too heavy.

The band uses a straight-up lead singer whose inflection carries the chord changes instead of relying on vocal tradeoffs or group choruses to pick up the slack, and he does a good job of leading the songs and staying on key. For an easy comparison, think Green Day minus the snottiness/faux-British stuff. With the record playing a quick half hour for the fifteen songs, the sound stays fresh. Well, as fresh and the early 1990s can sound which, on repeated listens of Lessons on Love, Sharing, and Hygiene, is a lot more than I would have expected.

The LP also includes a nice foldout insert, though is debunks the “kids” part of the band’s name.