If you aren’t familiar with this Long Island, NY quintet I’d suggest you take notice as this four song 7” is pretty doggone good. Awake In Their World was recorded by Phil Douglas (ex-Latterman) and falls squarely in that same vein of post-Lifetime East Coast hardcore-influenced melodic pop punk that really isn’t quite pop punk at all. Why’d I even say that? I dunno, maybe it’s because Agent sits (at least a little) in the same chair that Latterman also occupied but isn’t quite as overly gruff and/or political. There are also (and interestingly so) slight shades late-90’s Midwest emo sounds in the ringing almost Braid-esque guitar parts and the strained vocals and similarities to Woodson-era Get Up Kids. Trust me, I’ve been listening to this over and over since I got it. You can get the 7″ from Run For Cover Records now.
MP3:
Agent - Current
Hot on the heels of last year’s awesome Find Me A Drink Home, the Lansing, Michigan trio 
Again I need to ask the question, why is no one giving The Sidekicks any love? Their new album Weight Of Air is simply brilliant and a huge step forward for the band. Over the course of just one full length and a 7″ the band’s sound has changed significantly enough that it might be hard to recognize them as the same group that released So Long, Soggy Dog back in 2007. The quartet (from suburban Cleveland) has ditched most of the rough edges and standard-issue pop punk affectations of their early material and ratcheted up the rootsy folk underpinnings. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed their Sam 7″ and So Long, Soggy Dog, but Weight Of Air blows those records out of the water. Instead of reminding me of (say) The Loved Ones, The Riot Before, or The Gaslight Anthem, The Sidekicks now sound more like Uncle Tupelo and/or (more specifically) like a punked up version of Okkervil River. 
After a long night of heaving drinking (I know we’ve all been there) you really only have two options if you can’t sleep it off. You can either find a Waffle House and thrown down some grits, gravy, sausage, and strong black coffee or you can suck it up and keep drinking. While neither really works and both usually (ultimately) leave you worse off than before, Left Lane Cruiser’s second album for Alive Records, All You Can Eat, is the musical equivalent of both those choices. You might be familiar with the band as having the #16 album on my list of favorite albums of 2008, but if you aren’t, listen up. Left Lane Cruiser is punk-ass blues duo from Fort Wayne, Indiana whose sonic slop is simply ferocious. Joe Evans bashes on the electric guitar and spits out distorted and liquor-stung vocals while Brenn Beck smashes his drums like a man possessed. It’s a rumbling tinnitus-inducing musical vertigo of swampy Mississippi-style ghetto electric blues that’s greasy, grimy, gritty, and basically un-fucking-real. It’s the kind of music that should be played in dark, sweaty, dive bars while yer pounding shots of Wild Turkey. What you really need to know is that All You Can Eat has been in steady rotation since it came across my desk about a month ago and ain’t goin’ nowhere anytime soon.
OMGZ! For whatever reason I really love this album. I mean, like, despite my better judgment I like this a whole fucking lot! First, the album is ridiculously titled Throw Up Your Hands For One Night Stands courtesy of Atlanta, Georgia’s Freshman 15. They are one of those nu-pop-punk (or just call it pop-core) bands with overly-cheesy and cliched lyrics about loving and missing girls, broken hearts, and all those things. Yes, some (if not all) of the lyrics are cringe-worthy, but these guys seem sincere and I can certainly remember being in their shoes when I was younger (see Allister’s Dead Ends And Girlfriends as an example) even if their promo photos make ‘em look like complete douchebags. Wasn’t it all about the music once? Am I showing my age? Fuck.
I’ve never heard of an indie folk collective called The Wading Girl nor was I familiar with it’s frontman, 
Nothington’s 2007 album, All In, was good and ended up taking the #12 spot on my best of list for that year, but I wasn’t expecting the band to mature and progress as much as they have here. Every single song on Nothington’s new album Roads, Bridges and Ruins is a goddamn sing-a-long anthem. Seriously, it’s almost unbelievable just how good this (and that’s a 100% hyperbole-free statement). It picks up right where All In left off and finds the band continuing to play the raw, melodic, unpretentious anthemic punk that made us all love ‘em in the first place. Hints of rootsy Southern rock sneak into the songs and just up the ante even more. It’s like chasing shots of whiskey with Social Distortion, Hot Water Music, and Sludgeworth. Guitarist Jay Northington’s vocals are as coarse as 24 grit sandpaper and his lyrics are biting but guitarist Chris Matulich also contributes lead vocals to a couple songs and (along with bassist Tony Texeira) serves up some killer backing vocals as well. The guitar leads are amazing, the songwriting is tight, and there is virtually zero filler anywhere to be found. This little band from the Bay Area that started off as ex-Tsnuami Bomb and ex-Enemy You has become something of a force to be reckoned with. Roads, Bridges And Ruins is a powerhouse of an album that hits like a punch to the gut but has melodic hooks to make you keep standing in round after round and is out now on 
