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Prince Daddy & The Hyena has come down from their home built on weed mountain to bring the masses a brand new LP that was carved out of stone with their bare hands. 11 tracks for you and your ex-lover to binge listen to while debating tacos vs. burritos. With sharp vocals and hard hitting melodies, most if not all of the world’s problems have instantly been solved. We are blessed to live in a universe where Prince Daddy & The Hyena exist. I feel terrible for the parallel universes that don’t get to listen to this record.
More seriously. P. Daddy’s new record has been on my hype list ever since I heard their Adult Summers EP. Everything this band was doing was fresh and felt authentic to me. They had all the potential to be the next great punk band. Adult Summers was step 1 on their journey.
I Thought You Didn’t Even Like Leaving is the next step in the right direction. With this record P. Daddy is building on that potential to be the band everyone is hyped on in a year or two. I believe in this band and this record. P Daddy takes us on a journey that is conveyed in the album artwork. Each song on this LP compliment the image on the cover in its own unique way. This record really is the whole package. I only have 2 issues with this record, but they almost cancel each other out which I will go over below.
I Thought You Didn’t Even Like Leaving – title track, album opener, tone setter. This song does it all. Some of the sharpest lyrics this band has put out. Everything folds together so well. P. Daddy has a way to really connect to a listener and say the words that I wish I could say. That is a rare gift and ability that many bands fail at. Musically this sets the tone for the band.
I Forgot To Take My Meds Today – Damn the transition is really amazing. I instantly feel the build and it swells to a really fresh and honest sing a long chorus. I really hope P.Daddy plays these songs back to back with no break. Fuck that would be a great moment in a show. “I am having trouble pretending to be myself” are the lyrics that hit me the most in this song. Low key we all are pretending to be ourselves. The raw honesty P.Daddy delivers without it being sappy is really remarkable.
Clever Girl – Musically and thematically I hear a lot of weezer worship which isn’t a bad thing. The juxtaposition of the first and second halves of the song are nice.
Nika’s Got it wrong – Complaint 1. Not a new song. But it is a MUCH BETTER RECORDING of it so it is all good. It is also my favorite song off the demo. This song takes a unique point of view of rape on college campus in one part of the song. I am glad it is on this record because it is a really strong song and I want more people to hear it and not many people will go back to the demo.
Bromeo // Always Good – Love the imagery in this song with walks on the moon instead of the beach. It has the longing of just getting away from it all. The second half of the song has some really fun drumming and is a sound from the band that I would hope they explore more on future work.
Pop Song – Damn this song is lonely.
Broc Ched – Complaint 2. Not a new song. But again it is a MUCH BETTER RECORDING of it so it is all good. It is also much better placed after pop song than as the start of the demo. The two songs compliment eachother nicely.
I wish I could Ctrl+Alt+Del my life – This song feels like the flipside of I forgot to take my meds today. I love that the band still uses samples. The sample helps me transition logically and emotionally to the next track smoothly.
Hundo Pos – Fuck ya the fuck you imma be alright is back. I get the same emotional feeling and pay off that I got on Hidden Track from Adult summers. The video for this is also pretty fun.
Bathtub – Musically this is the most fun on the record. I feel like the band had a blast writing this song. It is all over the place in the best way.
Really? – Ah we have come full circle. This is the end. We end where we started. Each lyric goes back and references every song and really wraps up the whole record. This song by itself is good, but in the context of the whole album is one of the most creative things I have seen from a punk recently. The closing argument. The reflection. The self realization. The call backs to each song, not just the obvious one. This song makes the record stand out. With this song they exceeding my expectations. And I was not high when i got to this song, but maybe this weekend I will listen again stoned.
Well done P.Daddy.
IMO you are the next great american punk band.
Please keep making music.
Please play in the los angeles area soon.
9/10
-mahaffie
Celebrity Punk House 