Pat the Bunny once said “There’s not enough music that combines anger with dark humor, catchy melodies with screaming, and forties with intelligence.” In Fire Hydrant Survival’s first album, he attempts to remedy this problem. From the crude cover art to screaming vocals, this album knows exactly what it wants to be: an angry folk punk album.

This is the first album from this artist who identifies himself only as Josh from Oregon.  He sticks mostly to the formula of folk punk which is something like “one angry guy plus alcohol plus anarchism equals one basement-recorded album.” But he does it well, his lyricism is both biting and witty when he wants it to be, his guitar abilities are sound, and he can yell in that way that makes him sound both intelligent and homeless.

One of the only things that makes this sound much different than other artists in the genre is his use of sampling which is almost never used in anything with folk in its name. He samples “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” and “So God Made a Banker”. The latter clearly plays into the general anarchist slant of the album but I cannot honestly say I have any idea what Walt Whitman has to do with Josh’s struggle against the man.

All in all, this album doesn’t do much differently but it’s in a small genre that hardly ever gets any new material so it’s worth a listen. You can download it from Josh’s Bandcamp right here.