Fastbacks - For WHAT Reason! LP - Clear Red Vinyl

No Threes (2024)

I will never pretend I am the world's foremost authority on the Fastbacks' discography.  I was a latecomer to the party and wasn't paying attention like I should have when the band was in their 90s heyday.  I've been doing my best to make up for lost time, picking up a record here and there as I see them available for the nice price™.  I can't say that I was expecting a new album from them in 2024, 25 years after their 1999 full length The Day That Didn't Exist.

And to my untrained, novice ears, it sure sounds like this is an album that could easily slide in next to one of their 90s records.  Everything that I'm looking for in a Fastbacks record.  The band as a whole is tight as hell with bouncy upbeat songs driven by an impeccable rhythm section.  Lulu & Kim's harmonies are as slick as they've ever been, complimenting each other and elevating each song.  Lulu and Kurt's guitar antics also are perfectly in sync with Kurt's extra riffing as top notch as you'd expect.

I know many people who evangelize Fastbacks as one of the great rock bands of our era.  It makes me annoyed that I missed out when they were active in the 90s.  While I really dig their records quite a bit, I don't think I'll ever have the same emotional attachment as people who have 30+ years history with them.  But I can say they are a great band and this is absolutely one of the best records to come out this year.

Fastbacks - For WHAT Reason!:
https://fastbacks.bandcamp.com/album/for-what-reason

Fastbacks – Zücker LP - Mint Vinyl (/500)

Sub Pop (2021, Reissue)

Another album that it's taken me forever to spend any time to write about is this reissue of Zücker, the first Sub Pop release from Fastbacks.  I absolutely missed the boat of Fastbacks during the 90s.  I was aware of them, for sure, but I never picked up any of their records.  Even in the years following that it took decades before I finally got it, mostly thanks to seeing a sort-of incarnation of them play at the Seattle Pop Punk Festival in 2018.

I said then that I'd start adding their records to my collection, and while I have not done so with the speed that I would have liked, it's still an intention.  A few years ago, a reissue of Zücker popped up and that sure seemed like a good time to get this one in the collection.  I can't claim to be an expert on any of the Fastbacks records, but so far their high water mark for me is their album Answer The Phone, Dummy.  Comparing Zücker to that, it's pretty darn close to being just as great.

As someone who can certainly get behind a band with poppy songs and big guitars, I am still kind of amazed I didn't hear more Fastbacks songs over the year.  They hit that sweet spot of being energetic and fast, while still maintaining the sort of sugary sweet vocal melodies that really tie things together for me.  Plus, the guitar riffing is next level, never settling for simple three chord progressions.  There's a complexity at play here that tricks you into thinking it's easy, while not realizing just how many changes a lot of these songs really have.  It's such a rewarding listen, especially as you go back multiple times.  And writing about it today is reminding me once again that I really need to grab some more of their records.

Fastbacks – Zücker:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l6b3ZewGR_0Dfsl9tG_cO8RJORK7b0Q3Q