Spring the Madcap

Stirring up the pot from the inside, Spring the Madcap present an upbeat take on the world of punk. Simplistic oi such as the Dropkick Murphys made infamous in the mid/late ’90s collides with pop punk, ska and the occasional punk rock’n’roll chorus in the vein of Sweden’s the Bones, making for an amusingly chaotic listen that can’t help but induce wide-eyed bounciness and light-hearted romp. Hell, the ’50s saxophone solo on "A.K.A. 47 Ment (Madagascar)” is enough to make even the hardest of punk-hating grandpa’s get down and swing. Featuring crystal clear production via Sainte Catherines guitarist Marc-Andre Beaudet, this eponymous release rivals the output of bands with far more thrust behind their name. And that’s probably its most redeeming value. The snotty determination and underlying intellect is quite similar yet vastly more intelligent to that of Rancid in their short but vibrant heyday. While Armstrong and crew consider themselves "worldly” for the odd ska bomp though, Spring the Madcap assure it with minute yet smooth and impossible to ignore deviations from the norm.