Music Review: Best Behavior, Good Luck Bad Karma

By Tyler Hodg

Best Behavior showcases their take on surf, punk, and garage rock all at one time with their latest offering, Good Luck Bad Karma. The Brooklyn-based band is a no-frills act, void of musical or lyrical cliches, which isn’t the easiest thing to do when so much has been achieved and repeated in rock music. Despite that respectable feat, Best Behavior’s songs unfortunately only fall into the “good” category rather than “great,” due to the lack of uniqueness in their music.

There is a certain throwback element to Good Luck Bad Karma, whether it is intentional or not. Their song “Magic” can be likened to something that The Kinks would have released, while the songs “Bad Habit” and “Tinder Flakes” are clearly inspired by Detroit punk-rock acts such as The Stooges and MC5.

That’s not to say that there aren’t any original-sounding tracks on the album; the opener “Star Signs” is easily the most progressive song. Its straight-from-the-garage sound contrasts with the melodic vocal composition to create a stimulating blend of old and new. “Backwards Explanation” is another track that stands out, as its stripped-down arrangement allows the song to speak for itself without any fuzz or brashness distorting its core essence.

Best Behavior’s ability to wrangle all types of different songs into one package without making anything sound out of place is impressive to say the least, regardless if they are taking steps forward or backward musically. While some may enjoy a song like “Always” over a song like “Now I Don’t”, there is something for almost everyone (even if the music might not hold people’s attention for a long length of time).

Best Behavior has a solid outing with Good Luck Bad Karma, but there is still plenty left to prove for the up-and-coming band. As their career progresses, one can only hope that their songs do, too. Although the rest are good enough for what they are, songs like “Star Signs” and “Backwards Explanation” are evidence that branching out and creating something new pays off in the most satisfying way. Bad Behavior has something special, but it’s up to them whether they choose to exploit that.

Good Luck Bad Karma was released on August 14 by Money Fire Records.