Snapped Ankles Hard Times Furious Dancing
Snapped Ankles's Hard Times Furious Dancing arrives as a kinetic manifesto - a record that insists on movement as protest and ritual, and that often succeeds in converting social anger into ecstatic, saxophone-tinged propulsion. Critics point to the album's motorik beats, performance-art theatricality and wry, fungus-haunted humour as central strengths, with tracks such as “Dancing In Transit”, “Pay The Rent” and “Raoul” repeatedly cited as the record's most urgent moments. Across five professional reviews the album earned a 76/100 consensus score, a signal that reviewers found plenty to praise even where the spectacle sometimes overwhelms nuance.
The critical consensus emphasizes live energy versus recorded limitations: reviewers consistently celebrate the album's live-tested mania and glitching propulsion, while noting that repetition and on-record sameness can dampen some of the thrill. Praise centers on the way songs turn heartbreak, political frustration and surreal humour into danceable, insurgent music - critics repeatedly frame the best tracks on Hard Times Furious Dancing as those that make you move and think at once. Standout moments highlighted across reviews include “Dancing In Transit”, the insurgent stomp of “Pay The Rent”, and the Dada-like “Raoul”.
While some reviewers caution that the record's theatricality and recurring motifs risk wearing thin in solitary listening, professional reviews agree the album rewards communal playback and feels vital in performance. For readers searching for an answer to "is Hard Times Furious Dancing good" the critical consensus suggests it is a spirited, sometimes imperfect collection whose best songs deliver both catharsis and defiance; the remainder of the reviews below unpacks where the record thrives and where its live-first ambition translates less convincingly to the studio.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
Good Riddance
1 mention
"she manages a perky as well as gorgeously floaty, cathartic, if still bittersweet final track - Good Riddance"— Song Bar
Body As A River
1 mention
"On the propulsive “Body As A River": "I read what I write / And it’s never without shame"— Paste Magazine
Math Equation
1 mention
"On Math Equation, for example: "You said I needed my own friends / So I found them / Then you fucked them.""— Song Bar
she manages a perky as well as gorgeously floaty, cathartic, if still bittersweet final track - Good Riddance
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Pay The Rent
Personal Responsibilities
Raoul
Dancing In Transit
Where’s The Caganer?
Smart World
Hagen Im Garten
摆烂 Bai Lan
Closely Observed
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 5 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
Snapped Ankles's Hard Times Furious Dancing feels like a call to move in the face of collapse, a record where dance and defiance are one. The reviewer's voice loves the album's big motorik beats and ghillie-suited escapism, especially the ecstatic resistance threaded through tracks such as “Dancing In Transit” and “Pay The Rent”. It praises the album as joyous, fungus-haunted ritual music that makes you shake off centuries, and positions the best tracks as engines for that insurgent revelry. The result answers plainly who should ask, "what are the best tracks on Hard Times Furious Dancing" - the ones that make you move and rage together.
Key Points
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The best song(s) are those that channel the album's motorik beats and ecstatic resistance, making listeners move as an act of defiance.
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The album's core strengths are its celebratory dance energy, vivid natural and fungal imagery, and performative theatricality.
Themes
Fa
Critic's Take
Snapped Ankles sound intent on a peculiar mission on Hard Times Furious Dancing, to make you dance while pointing at collapse. Tom Taylor’s review relishes the album’s glitching propulsion and peak moments like “Pay The Rent” and “Closely Observed” that cut through the samey beats and deliver real payoff. He praises the record’s live-tested mania - especially on “摆烂 Bai Lan” - while warning that the material can feel repetitive on record. The verdict lands on a vital but imperfect club record that will thrill in person more than on a solitary playthrough.
Key Points
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The best song is “Closely Observed” because it provides a melodic, meditative finale and is called the album’s best moment.
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The album’s core strengths are its live-tested, glitching dance energy and vivid forward-thinking deconstruction of club music.
Themes
Critic's Take
In his brisk, anecdote-rich voice Alastair Shuttleworth presents Snapped Ankles's Hard Times Furious Dancing as a record that channels social anger into movement, singling out the ecstatic “Dancing In Transit” and the Dada stomp of “Raoul” as prime examples. Shuttleworth relishes the album's oddball humour and performance-art roots, arguing that songs like “摆烂 Bai Lan” and “Closely Observed” turn international eccentricity into emotional ballast. The review frames the best tracks as ones that force you to move and think at once, making clear why listeners asking "best tracks on Hard Times Furious Dancing" will land on those vividly described moments.
Key Points
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The best song, notably "Dancing In Transit", captures real-life airport revelry and crystallises the album’s joyous protest-dance ethos.
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The album’s core strengths are its blend of performance-art eccentricity, political urgency turned into dance music, and vivid anecdotal songwriting.