Away We Go – Lights! Camera! Attraction! EP
If you’ve got/know/are teenagers that like Paramore and/or Fall Out Boy, you should check out Las Vegas’ Away We Go. Their horribly titled EP Lights! Camera! Attraction!, features everything from acoustic songs to radio-ready pop rock and is some of the most derivative stuff I’ve heard in a long time. Sure, it’s power pop that’s (Read more…)
Caleb Lionheart – Think Hardcore, Play Pop Punk
I love Fifteen, but I can’t imagine Jeff Ott fronting a band like New York’s Caleb Lionheart. It just ain’t right, but the singer does sound a bit like Jeff Ott (in tone only, not in lyrical content) and/or the dude from Unwritten Law here on the Think Hardcore, Play Pop Punk EP. The name (Read more…)
Title Fight – The Last Thing You Forget
So last year I raved (read the review here) about the debut 7″ from Kingston, Pennsylvania’s Title Fight and the poppy melodic hardcore that filled up the wax. I’m a Midwesterner and this just reeks of Eastern seaboard. Title Fight’s sound is gritty, fast, and makes me long for the days when I was young (Read more…)
Backseat Virgins – Carl
Oh pop punk, why do I love thee so and why/how do I keep finding good and entertaining bands to listen to? I almost can’t take it anymore. My brain’s on overload. Backseat Virgins are just that sort of band. They’re a bubblegum pop punk band from Birmingham, Alabama complete with keyboards, both male and (Read more…)
Arms Aloft – Comfort At Any Cost 7″
I happened across Arms Aloft and their four-song 2008 7” Comfort At Any Cost when I saw them open for Banner Pilot at Ronny’s in Chicago this past summer where I couldn’t really hear ‘em too well, but I can say with authority that this record is great. It’s the sort of music that I’d (Read more…)
Heartsounds – Until We Surrender
My wife and I were listening to Strung Out’s Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues the other day and commenting just how great that record is, and while Heartsounds might not sound exactly like Strung Out, it’s easy to listen to their debut album, Until We Surrender, and hear the similarities. The record is full of fast-paced (Read more…)
Latin For Truth – Eleven Eleven
Latin For Truth and their album Eleven Eleven is really really good but flawed. It’s like a combination of Living With Lions, New Found Glory and some good but semi-ridiculous pseudo-heavy East coast-y hardcore parts. I guess it’s posi popcore. There’s some great riffage and some killer melodies, but on more than one occasion the (Read more…)
Four Year Strong – Explains It All
Does an entire covers album full of 90’s alternative radio hits sound like a good idea for a hardcore-influenced pop-punk band? I didn’t think so either, but that’s exactly what Four Year Strong’s latest release, Explains It All is. Bad move space cadet. Now before you judge me, know that this isn’t a tribute, but (Read more…)
