The Cool Kids - When Fish Ride Bicycles (ALBUM REVIEW)

Click READ MORE to check out my review of When Fish Ride Bicycles.

I first read the words When Fish Ride Bicycles on Myspace back when Myspace was relevant. That’s how long ago this album was first announced. This announcement came out around the time of The Bake Sale and That’s Stupid the mixtape. So it has been a while since this album was first announced and every year since I’ve placed this album on my most anticipated of the year list.

So the ultimate question is did The Cool Kids capture the lightning that is found on their debut EP The Bake Sale a second time around and so long after it took the music world by storm? After seamless copycats, hipster tags, and tons of groups emerging obliviously influenced by The Cool Kids, it seemed like the group might be left in the dust, even after releasing a few mixtapes to hold fans over. It seemed like this album was doomed never to come out. Record label troubles delayed the album year after year, but the wait is finally over and the long awaited debut is now out on iTunes.

Obviously, throughout the last few years The Cool Kids have given away quite a few good songs originally intended for this album. Some include “Pennies” “Strawberry Girls” “Super Smash Bros” etc… We’ve heard the duo say they have re-made the album numerous times. We’ve heard there would be no guests but of course the final product features quite a few guests.

The album ends up being a really good follow-up to The Bake Sale. It has similar qualities while being a completely different animal. The Bake Sale had many throwback qualities with new twists and featured only Chuck Inglish and Mikey Rocks with Chuck handling the production. The new album features the duo but also features many high profile guests as well as some production by the Neptunes. The throwback quality is there in some ways, but mostly in the way Inglish makes beats but the rhyming found on the album holds some different qualities. This is very much a statement album, which is that The Cool Kids can evolve their sound while maintaining the qualities fans enjoyed in the first place, continuing to look to the future, and creating a solid album.

The guests do a great job improving the quality of the songs and aren’t there just for the namesake. Bun B’s appearance on “Gas Station” adds a lot to the song. Mayer Hawthorne’s appearance on “Swimsuit” creates a super catchy chorus that becomes instantly sing-along-able. Other guests like Pharrell and Travis Barker show up on tracks and add a lot to their respective songs in terms of how the beat sounds.

The main criticism I have about the album is the length. At eleven songs, it’s only one more than The Bake Sale EP and after such a long wait it would have been nice to have four or five more songs on the album.

So, after years, it’s here and it was worth the wait. It probably isn’t quite as good as The Bake Sale and probably will not make the same impact that the EP did when it was released, but it’s a nice follow-up to the EP. It’s a good bridge to the future of The Cool Kids. Word out is that the duo is three quarters through their sophomore album Shark Week and hopefully plan to have it out by Christmas of this year. Let’s cross our fingers and hope Shark Week doesn’t appear on my most anticipated of the year list for the next three or four years.