Piebald – “Accidental Gentlemen” / Big D & the Kids Table – “Strictly Rude”

Piebald – “Accidental Gentlemen”
Big D & the Kids Table – “Strictly Rude”
(SideOne Dummy)

Seriously, these are the best two albums either artist has ever put out. It’s quite a fine occasion to get cds in the mail by two of my favorite bands. But the fact that they’re probably the highlights of both artists is even better. Both Piebald and Big D & the Kids Table have both hit that point in their careers where they’ve been together ten years or longer.

As artists, if you’re still making the same album over and over (I’m looking at you, Pennywise), you really ought to just pack it in. This isn’t to say that familiarity isn’t a good thing – by no means. Both Accidental Gentlemen and Strictly Rude have the sort of familiarity that makes me keep listening to music.

When a band takes all their old albums, and takes what works and throws out what doesn’t, and then makes a record that distills all that goodness into 10-15 tracks of awesome goodness, that’s when you know you’ve got someone that’s going to make an impact. Now, granted… in this cookie-cutter world of our, where normalcy is rewarded and mediocrity goes platinum, it’s fucking awesome to know that some bands still make music because they want to do something that people want and can’t get.

Both of these records are cases in point. Accidental Gentlemen was recorded at Opium Den Studios, which is quite literally a barn. Analog, even. The warmth and immediacy of this record is fantastic. The pop / high school talent show stylings of All Ears, All Eyes, All The Time has been tempered by a return to the straight-ahead rocking of If It Weren’t For Venetian Blinds It Would Be Curtains For Us All and the catchy hooks of We Are The Only Friends We Have. Their cover of the Kinks’ “Strangers” is a song I never would have thought they’d do. However, now that I’ve heard it, I can’t imagine them not doing it – the fit is that perfect.

Big D has made the album of their career with Strictly Rude. Literally, this is the best thing they’ve ever done. I own every single one of their albums, and thsi one takes the cake. Good Luck had too much filler, Gypsy Hill was more a b-sides comp, and How It Goes was just too fucking long. All of those records had songs that worked like a charm, and Strictly Rude works those elements like a heavy bag. “Noise Complaint” is “51 Gardner” six years down the line in the same house, and the party’s gotten out of control. “Souped-Up Vinyl” is a love letter that all enthusiasts of hissy, poppy black records will appreciate. The touches of dub and reggae mixed in with the frantic ska-punk give the album a fuller scope.

Both of these records will sustain me all damn year. It’s like both groups knew that, come springtime, I’d want something to crank up and blare out the car windows when it warmed up enough to roll ’em down. Accidental Gentlemen and Strictly Rude are going to be the sing-along albums of the year. By the time summer rolls around, I hope enough people I know will own these records, ’cause I can’t think of two records I’d rather share.

Both Piebald and Big D & the Kids Table deserve high kudos for their accomplishments, as does SideOne Dummy. When Big D signed on to the label, I got happy. The Suicide Machines and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones both made amazing returns to form after signing with SideOne. Now, granted, they bands broke up (or went on “hiatus”) shortly thereafter, but they went out on a high note. Big D is going strong, and Piebald shows no signs of stopping, so it seems that SideOne has become the sort of label Epitaph once was – one where you can pick up damn near anything they put out and be assured of a quality product.

Listen to Strictly Rude tracks here.
Listen to Accidental Gentlemen tracks here or stream the entire album at Piebald’s MySpace page.