Sunny Ali & the Kid are very minimalist. And by that I mean, if the old "less is more" adage is true, then Sunny Ali & the Kid's Try Harder EP might as well be a blindingly epic prog suite. None of the songs even reach the three minute mark, and it's almost funny how well it works. Each track gives you just a taste and nothing more, so you can't help but go back and listen again, and again...and again.

In this respect, they recall Wire, who managed to cram more invention into fifty seconds than many other bands could in four minutes. In fact, the whole EP sounds like a series of post-punk diversions. Vocals are alternately distant and aggressive; the guitars, when not strumming, are locked in surf-y, angular riffs; and as a whole, the recordings have a trebly, reverberating quality to them.

 

Since singer Hassan Ali left his earlier band POPO, he's been plugging Sunny Ali & the Kid as a sort of country punk act, even going so far as to dress like an urban cowboy. But there are scant traces of country on Try Harder, or even what one might call folk. There are a few tracks, like the closer "Fuck Me" and the title track, that strum along at a leisurely, country-inflected pace. But the overall effect is something quite different. The songs that really stand out, "You Know What Jawad" and "Cand Stand Ya", with their trebly guitar riffs and dance beats, sound something like Cake (if Cake had been listening to a lot of Gang of Four and the like). And yes, I do hear the “Oh, Pretty Woman” influenced opening riff of "You Know What Jawad". "Skinny Fucker" is straight-ahead punk fury, while "The Best for You..." makes a light, quirky marriage between ukulele and drum machine. There is also a random but enjoyable punkish, garage pop version of “Better Off Alone”, a Euro-dance pop hit for the band Alice DeeJay. So while the record is a rather brief trip, it is an oh so sweet one! You can purchase and download the album here. - Joe Poteracki