★★★★★
Dirty Rice is the Mad Caddies' sixth full-length and it's their first release in seven years. They do have their ska punk/reggae feel on this album, but they've gone a little bit poppier with some songs like "Brand New Scar," "Down and Out" and "Back to the Bed." But don't let that throw you off because Dirty Rice is a pretty ska-dominated album with a lot of creative beats and rhythms...
- www.punknews.org
2014-05-14
★★★★★
Sound: Softcore ska-punk is all about having a good time and making the best with what life delivers on Mad Caddies 6th studio album Keep It Going from Fat Wreck Chords. Their medley of Latin-funk, calypso-swing, and urban-punk with ska blasts has jazz overtones from the trumpet vamps of Keith Douglas and trombone spirals of Ed Hernandez...
- www.ultimate-guitar.com
2009-11-15
★★★★★
The Mad Caddies lie somewhere between punk music and ska music, but not quite in that nebulous realm I like to call skunk. Skunk, or ska-punk, is basically sped up, angry ska music. But these guys actually play punk-rock with horns, incorporating them better than most bands would regardless of their own focus. Most of these songs are sped up punk-pop, Fat Wreck style, something that probably wouldn't be interesting at all if not for the heavy use of horns...
- www.adequacy.net
2009-07-21
★★★★★
People who see ska as just another worn-out fad are missing out on some great music. Bands like Catch 22, Big D and The Kid's Table, and, of course, Mad Caddies prove that this tenacious genre has long outlasted its 15 minutes of mainstream fame and continues to find new fans, weary of harsh, pissed-off punk, with each release. Granted, ska won't provide any of the awe-inspiring, singer/songwriter/indie-rock revelations (how's that for dash/slash-usage...
- www.adequacy.net
2009-07-21
★★★★★
So, you're a ska-punk band, and ska-punk is hopelessly out of vogue, even with the ska kids and the punk kids. What to do with that horn section? What to do? . . . For Mad Caddies, the solution for most of the album is to bury them in a barrage of above-average, but basically predictable, pop-punk...
- www.rollingstone.com
2009-06-08
★★★★★
Yes, this is some more Punk Rock With Horns Added, but rather than always
going the Ska-lite route, Mad Caddies frequently veer into Squirrel Nut
Zippers territory, especially on the killer "Monkeys". The fact that the
Mad Caddies are a dead-solid-tight ensemble helps Duck and Cover
avoid the tedium of the genre, as does the fact that these songs cook like a
nuclear plant gone critical. Besides which, Fat Wreck isn't in the habit of releasing crappy albums.
- www.splendidezine.com
2009-03-21
★★★★★
Yes, this is some more Punk Rock With Horns Added, but rather than always
going the Ska-lite route, Mad Caddies frequently veer into Squirrel Nut
Zippers territory, especially on the killer "Monkeys". The fact that the
Mad Caddies are a dead-solid-tight ensemble helps Duck and Cover
avoid the tedium of the genre, as does the fact that these songs cook like a
nuclear plant gone critical. Besides which, Fat Wreck isn't in the habit of releasing crappy albums.
- www.splendidezine.com
2009-03-21
★★★★★
It's hard not to appreciate this so-called "punk-skacore" band from Santa
Barbara, who titled their first release Quality Soft-Core. They're lighthearted, funny guys, and the liner notes to their new
EP continue to confirm their charm and immediate appeal. They're far from
punk, though, unless groups like Green Day really define that genre now. In
all these new MadCaddies songs, the satisfaction is gained from radio-friendly melodies, great singing, and more than adequate
playing...
- www.splendidezine.com
2008-11-12