Leftöver Crack – Fuck World Trade

Hooray, I'm back! Gonna ease back into this with something long, complicated, and unprecedented.

August 31, 2004 • Alternative Tentacles

It always strikes me as a bit odd, the huge number of different ways people get into some kinds of music. The reason I started listening to Leftöver Crack was because a kid I knew in college had a shirt of theirs and wore it frequently; it would be over four years (well after I started listening to punk) before I thought to give their stuff a listen. And I played this album three times in a row that day, that's how struck with it I was.

Which is made all the more strange by the fact that, up until that point, I'd never been into ska or ska punk whatsoever (and I'm basically still not), but on Fuck World Trade I love how it's done. Perhaps it's the slight metal fusion on a few tracks and the heavy use of old-school '80s-style hardcore punk—that opening track was tailor-made just for me and worked perfectly at drawing me in. They switch back and forth from ska to punk to metal completely seamlessly and very effectively. The stylistic diversity is unmatched when it comes to punk, and there is absolutely no point at which the album gets tired or boring. Their use of different instruments help, too; there's piano, a string quartet, and accordions and whatever the heck else World/Inferno Friendship Society plays on "Soon We'll Be Dead".

I suppose that the real selling point for me is the driving power of the album as a whole. Despite the light and dancy ska and the occasional silly bit (or maybe because of them), Fuck World Trade is an album with powerful conviction. It's a dark album, I guess, and even melancholy at parts, but there are glimmers of hopefulness and cynical optimism throughout—bits like the gang-vocals and singalong style of the chorus of "Gang Control"—that make it all the better. It's anthemic, for lack of a better word. Simple riffs are just sometimes the best. I'm not sure why I like that aspect here when I usually don't, but I guess it just works. Best not question it.

While I'd normally ignore the lyrics, it's arguable that they add significantly to the album's mood; even if you don't agree with the messages, it's hard not to admire the enthusiasm and passion with which they're delivered. I can do without a bit of the political preachiness, but I'll let it slide this time simply because the music is so good that it really doesn't matter.

While I have to admit that Fuck World Trade is something of a niche album, even though it's not terribly well-known, most people who heard it seem to enjoy it—just perhaps not as much as I do. As it's coming up on its 10th anniversary by now, it'll probably languish in relative obscurity forever, but those of us who have found it are definitely privileged.

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