Dananananaykroyd – There Is A Way
Pizza College
Dananananakroyd is certainly not a generic name for a band but it is a rather silly one. Yes, that’s right, silly. Once you’ve got past counting all the ‘ananans’ with your fingers (all who can pronounce their name correctly have done this. Don’t lie) you can’t help but wonder — are they much more than a bunch of lads jacked up on fizzy drinks bouncing off the walls under a questionable moniker?
The hot-headed Glaswegians had what can best be described as moderate success on their EP and debut full album Hey Everyone!, with ‘potential’ being the buzzword among the few ‘zines that did pay attention. Where to file them was a whole other issue — indie rock’? Garage punk? ‘Fight Pop’? Anyway, they spent their hiatus in LA recording their second full studio album under the supervision of a certain Ross Robinson, a guy whose CV boasts The Cure, Klaxons, The Deftones and — bit of guilty nostalgia for mid-twentysomethings here — Korn. Come on now, if you weren’t at Reading setting fire to tents whilst wearing a Korn tour hoody, what WERE you doing at 14?
With There Is A Way ‘Aykroyd and Robinson have certainly cranked things up a notch since the debut. Whilst the thick Scottish tongue broadens as they double up on vocals, the album meanders between thronging guitar riffs and aggressive vocals on tracks like ‘E Numbers’ and opener ‘Reboot’, and more mainstream-appeasing hooks and indie-pop qualities on tracks like ‘Apostrophe’. Meanwhile, ‘Think and Feel’ is a catchy affair with its clap-along rhythm, and hooks and background mumblings reminiscent of The Rapture’s ‘House of Jealous Lovers’. As the album goes on, though, the continual layering of sounds gets a bit tiring, and some tracks just sound like a continuation of each other.
It’s hardly thought-provoking or all that memorable, but then again, so what? When they perform this live, their unfathomable energy will most likely see to it the record’s charms prove every bit as elastic as that cretinous name of theirs. Chloe Warnock
