Free Cool Kids Album Worth It, Barely

There's still hope for full-length debut

By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff

Posted May 28, 2009 12:29 PM CDT

(Newser) – The Cool Kids aren’t as cool as they once were—but “even when they’re on autopilot, their icy flatness has style,” writes Tom Breihan for Pitchfork. Gone Fishing, the internet phenoms’ recently released bundle of free downloadable music, “should be a major event in the group’s evolution,” but instead it sounds like “a collection of castoffs that weren’t good enough” for their upcoming full-length debut.

Part of the problem is an “awkward match” with producer Don Cannon, “but the main problem is that the songs just aren’t as strong as the ones on The Bake Sale,” and guest stints by Ludacris and Bun B overshadow the Kids themselves. At least one song is noteworthy, but “the Cool Kids will have to come up with at least a few more ideas as clever as that.”

[Images (3)]

[Videos (1)]

[Quotes (1)]

The Cool Kids' Mickey Rocks, left, and Chuck Inglish, perform during a day party at the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas, March 13, 2008. (AP Photo)

Cool Kids attend the 2008 mtvU Woodie Awards, Nov. 12, 2008 in New York. (Getty Images)

Antoine Reed and Evan Ingersoll of the Cool Kids perform at the 2008 Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago. (Getty Images)

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The Cool Kids talk SXSW with KarmaloopTV. (KarmaloopTV)

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The Cool Kids occupy this weird only-in-2009 unexplored territory in which they don't actually have to sell or even make CDs to score Mountain Dew marketing money or soundtrack Kevin Garnett's atrocious dancing.
- Tom Breihan

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Free Cool Kids Album Worth It, Barely