REVIEW: Kid Dynamite, Shorter Faster Louder (Jade Tree)
- Andrew Duncan
Back with Philadelphia's finest, Shorter Faster Louder is Kid Dynamite's latest that offers yet another solid collection of songs with little transformation.
Ascending from the now-defunct East Coast hardcore populous Lifetime, Dan Yemin and Dave Wagenschutz continue their ideology with Kid Dynamite. While in Lifetime, the band believed in keeping the songs short and to-the-point, catering to the short attention-spanned generation of today.
Kid Dynamite is no different. Clocking in at a hair over 22 minutes, Shorter Faster Louder feels more like one epic song than 18 bursts of hardcore.
Ranking in popularity with other aspiring hardcore bands, including Snapcase or Boy Sets Fire (they recorded a split EP with Kid Dynamite for the Sub City label), the band takes pieces from mid-'80s influences like Youth of Today and Gorilla Biscuits with their anthemic, social hardcore and adds to the structure elements of pop-core attitude.
The band has the chops and dexterity to remain consistent in such a fast-tempo environment. However, the downfall is that there is little diversity between each song, keeping the album dry and later lacking the intensity that began the album.
Their first full-length on Jade Tree was a great re-introduction into the hardcore scene, but as time goes by, the band needs to dig deeper into their style, which comes across more clearly and intensely in their short live sets.
