Review: Painted Willie - Mind Bowling (re-issue)

Label: DC-Jam Records

Released: July 17, 2009

SST Records was, if nothing else, a source of 80s musical madness. The label was somewhat diverse, but insanity was its consistency. While Hüsker Dü, the Meat Puppets and a few others moved on to major label semi-success, many of their bands burned up in the label's creative melee. Painted Willie was just such a band.

While Mind Bowling doesn't present essential listening for the general public, there are many out there who either missed it the first time or were too young when it went out of print or who sadly never owned a turntable (as it never made it to CD until now) that will appreciate it. The loose-to-the-point-of-near-deconsturction tunes meld mid-tempo, metally punk with the psych jams brought to the table by bands like Black Flag and the Meat Puppets. Along with other SST acts like DC3 and SWA, Painted Willie represent some of the earliest rumblings of what would later evolve into stoner rock. Mind Bowling will never have the broad impact of SST's upper echelon, but for those who want to dig a little deeper into underground rock's history, this re-issue is a fantastic opportunity to sample the madness.

Ratings
Satriani: 5/10
Zappa: 7/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 8/10
Overall: 7/10

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Review: JFA - To All Our Friends (live)

Label: DC-Jam Records

Released: July 21, 2009

Back in 1985, I bought JFA's Live 1984 Tour LP. It's energy was as unbounded as the possibilities of my new found favorite genre and it quickly found itself in steady rotation on my turntable. Nearly a quarter century later, a new piece of live JFA vinyl is spinning in my basement and it's hard to believe that it still has much of that same thrashy skate punk energy. Sure, the pace isn't always quite so breakneck, but they make up for a more restrained "Johnny D" by blasting through "You Suck" and the still amusingly stupid "Cokes and Snickers." Of course, it does seem a little odd for guys in their 40s to be playing "Out of School" or for anyone to still care about preppies in 2009, but even those songs they still pull off with conviction. The couple of newer (meaning after the 80s) tracks on the album are no substitute for some of the crazy covers on their earlier live release, but considerably better recording quality makes To All Our Friends an essential for anyone who still loves JFA and old skate punk.

By the way, the LP comes on beautiful blue vinyl that just adds to the fun of having this one in your collection

Ratings
Satriani: 5/10
Zappa: 7/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 9/10
Overall: 8/10

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Review: Anarbor - Free Your Mind and The Bigger Lights - Fiction Fever

Label: Hopeless Records

Released: March 10, 2009


Label: Doghouse Records

Released: April 7, 2009

Thirty years ago, a subgenre of rock that had been building for a few years was just about ready to explode. AOR took the best elements of 70s rock, dummied it down, made it safe and sold millions of records whose broad appeal was based on the least common denominator. While what they did was generally meaningless, a few bands did it well, but for every Journey or Foreigner, there were a slew of Loverboys and Survivors (and don't even make me count the Honeymoon Suites). Just about every subsequent generation has turned its primal voice into a slicked up, safe facsimile of itself that embodies the spirit, if not the sound, of AOR.

Both Anarbor and The Bigger Lights embody that spirit, but the results aren't quite the same. On their Free Your Mind EP, Anarbor take a step forward in songwriting. While they still won't be remembered years from now, their songs are catchy and draw from influences that expand their basic power pop sound. Each song is catchy enough to be memorable and "The Brightest Green" and "Halfway Sober" both have clear single potential, with the latter tapping into power ballad territory worthy of Aerosmith. All in all, not bad for today's version of AOR. It may not have staying power, but it's a good listen in the moment.

The Bigger Lights have bigger problems. While Anarbor have trouble creating a consistent, distinctive sound, their songs do manage to maintain some personality in their own right, but The Bigger Lights can't even establish that on a song by song basis. Not only could their Fiction Fever EP be played by any number of bands, but the songs themselves could be interchanged with literally thousands of others glutting the current rock market. Where Anarbor struggles to find a voice of their own, The Bigger Lights struggle to find something worth saying.

Anarbor - Free Your Mind

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 6/10
Overall: 6/10

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The Bigger Lights - Fiction Fever

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 4/10
Aretha: 4/10
Overall: 4/10

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Review: Paper the Operator - Solemn Boyz EP

Label: Viper Bite Records

Released: May 19, 2008

Nice melodies, good hooks and the edges of its punk rock roots smoothed out, Paper the Operator's sound seems like any of a thousand pop punk bands on paper. But there's a little something else here. The title track has a punchy undercurrent that could sneak its way into the heart of a punk purist. "Divorce Court" mixes its pop-punk melody with some very un-punk jangle, thus separating it from the masses without losing its potential for mass appeal. A wall of guitar that builds from crunch to noise on "Words You Never Learned" takes a trip that seems longer and more profound that its four and half minutes, perhaps getting to the crux of why Solemn Boyz is more interesting than its peers. Throughout, the EP never feels limited by its sound. This is undeniably pop-punk and yet it's so much more in ways that are subtle and crafty. In a genre that seems increasingly spent, Paper the Operator finds new avenues and new life.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 7/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 6/10
Overall: 7/10

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Review: Punchline - Just Say Yes

Label: Velvet Ear Records

Released: September 16, 2008

I saw Punchline a couple years ago and they really stood out. Maybe it was just that they were on a bill full of horribly sappy emo or maybe they were just better live than in the studio, but their albums never lived up to that show. Until now.

Just Say Yes doesn't make big changes to Punchline's sound so much as expands it. They still play pop-punk that has a tendency to err on the side whiny emo and they still nail their hooks. The difference now is bigger riffs and more dynamic songs. Instead of only drawing from within their narrow scope, they soak in Foo Fighter-ish pop rock ("Punish or Privilege" is undeniably close to "Big Me"), rock-ified cabaret ("Somewhere in the Dark") and angular neo-new wave ("Just Say Yes"). "Maybe I'm Wrong" crosses over that line that separates good ballads from bad, but redeems itself in a feedback-laden, chaotic end. The two closing tracks mark Punchline's increased musical breadth. "The Other Piano Man" finds them big, bold and more than a little flamboyant while "Castaway" is masterful mellow pop. Overall, the broader palette is fueled by increased confidence and more muscular, arena-sized riffs that will serve Punchline well at the next level even if it doesn't make them entirely memorable over the long haul.

At its worst, Just Say Yes is better than its predecessors. At its best, it is knocking at the door of the best commercial rock out there. Punchline's game is still pretty much the AOR of today, but they're now near the top of that game. The music is pleasant and easy, but in the best way that it can be. If you need a record to challenge you, just say no, but if you enjoy a smooth, easy ride from time to time, Just Say Yes is as good an answer as any.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 6/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 5/10
Overall: 6/10

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Review: Zebrahead - Phoenix

Label: Icon Records

Released: August 5, 2008

There are great albums that are definitive in their genre, essential to their scene or even influential across the full spectrum of rock music. Then, there are (possibly) great albums cultivated on ground made fertile by their more innovative predecessors. Can they really be called great? Who's to say for sure, but there are some at least that knock so heartily on the door of greatness, that it seems unimaginable that they would not be let in. Phoenix is one of those albums.

Zebrahead doesn't do much that hasn't been done before. At their worst moments, their energetic pop punk gets a little bit too close to the Offspring...but in their prime. In their better moments, Zebrahead infuses pop-punk, an increasingly dull and placid genre, with passion and excitement and better hooks to boot (check out "Death By Disco" if you doubt it). Drawing at times on hip-hop and electro-punk, neither of which is a new idea, they incorporate the sounds much more seamlessly than the genre-cut-and-paste games played by many of their peers.

Phoenix is not an album about brave new musical horizons and perhaps that will lead to diminishing critical returns over time. But right now, it's a must hear record for anyone who ever even had an inclination to like pop punk. It's towering energy might just make you forget that it's all been done before, but forgetting might not matter, because new or not, it's seldom been done better.

Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 8/10
Aretha: 7/10
Overall: 8/10

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Review: New Found Glory - Tip of the Iceberg / International Superheroes of Hardcore - Takin' It Ova

Label: Bridge Nine

Released: April 29, 2008

This release finds the latest EP from pop-punks New Found Glory and a full-length from NFG side-project International Superheroes of Hardcore. Without a doubt, NFG are a band that could use a fresh start and a return to writing meaningful songs rather than the sap that made up their major label years. ISHC had a limited release that preceded this, but this is their first exposure to a broader world. So, both bands have something to prove.

NFG's Tip of the Iceberg EP certainly shows more heart than the band has exhibited since 1999's Nothing Gold Can Stay and for the first time, it's more punk than pop. While NFG members have been in these waters before, the band has never been here on record. Most of the songs still have a heavy dose of pop, but it doesn't drown the punk element like NFG have done for years.

The six songs on Tip of the Iceberg include three covers. NFG lighten up Gorilla Biscuits' "No Reason Why" to something akin to early 7 Seconds, but they're even more at home taking on one of Shelter's more melodic moments on "Here We Go Again." But every track, covers and originals alike, certainly has more substance than the band has had in quite some time.

ISHC waste no time separating themselves from NFG's lighter legacy. With a blistering pace and aggressive vocals, they lay down some serious East Coast hardcore grooves along the lines of Madball. It's not the most original work in the genre, but they could hold their own with all but perhaps the top handful of hardcore bands. It's full of heart-on-the-sleeve songs about the scene and the meaning of hardcore and what it means to really live the life. Still, they also exhibit a sense of humor on songs like "Screamo Gotta Go" and that's always refreshing in the all-too-serious world of hardcore.

Tip of the Iceberg/Takin' It Ova is an interesting packaging with pop-punk that hardcore fans can stomach and hardcore that won't scare the pop out of anyone. Both discs show bands at the top of their game and, for NFG anyway, that's somewhere they haven't been in a long time.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 7/10
Overall: 6/10

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Review: Hit the Lights - Skip School, Start Fights

Label: Triple Crown Records

Released: July 8, 2008

From the piano pop of the opening track, it's clear that rock n roll isn't high on the agenda for Hit the Lights. Somewhere in the last decade or so, pop punk and emo took a wrong turn and Skip School, Start Fights finds itself pretty far down that unfortunate detour.

There's no doubt that these guys are tight, even after adjusting to guitarist Nick Thompson taking over vocal duties after the departure of Colin Ross. They have the formula nailed. The vocals are just a hair shy of smooth, the guitars are just a tad cleaner than crunchy and the rhythms are just short of driving. Underlying Hit the Lights' pop punk exterior are hints of artists like the Gin Blossoms and Rick Springfield, both of whom were masters of making hollow copies of the real music of their respective times.

If you enjoy your pop a little on the raw and/or whiny side or your punk a whole lot on the safe side, Skip School, Start Fights is a great album. The songs are catchy even if they don't stand out in the emo/pop-punk crowd and the energy level is consistently high, bolstered by plenty of whoa-ohs to which to sing along. The trouble is, if you prefer something with teeth, it doesn't take long to recognize that there's no bite to go along with this bark.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 3/10
Overall: 4/10

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Review: Beat Union - Disconnected

Label: Science Records

Released: April 22, 2008

Pop punk today is a lot like new wave was almost three decades ago. A few great artists, Elvis Costello, for example, managed to both establish and transcend the genre and in their wake, literally thousands of bands tried to follow. Some, like the Cars, wrote some outstanding songs and broke the strict limits of the genre. Others, like say the Knack, were just knock offs who would play the flavor of the month regardless of what it happened to be. So it is with pop punk as well and Beat Union is among the thousands who are following the likes of NOFX and Weezer.

Now, at this point, I often feel like I'd rather gouge my eyes with a hot poker than listen to the next pop punk contrivance to come down the pike. Beat Union, however, find themselves among pop punk's Cars rather than its Knacks. Disconnected offers up eleven tracks of punk that's so catchy, you'll wonder how they did it. True, there's a thousand bands that sound almost the same, but Beat Union are such masters of the pop hook that it's hard to even put your finger on just what makes them special. In the end, it's really the subtle differences, a note going up instead of down or a stutter in the rhythm, that sets them apart. Interestingly, they frequently channel early Elvis Costello and perhaps it is the lessons they learned from him that give them that sixth sense.

Beat Union doesn't quite transcend their pop-punk and neo-new wave pigeonhole, but they come close at times. That makes them a pretty good listen for even those most skeptical of pop punk's sad addiction to formula. They do stick to the book for the most part, but it's where they deviate that makes them special in a sea of normalcy.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 6/10
Dylan: 8/10
Aretha: 6/10
Overall: 7/10

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Review: Title Fight - Kingston

Label: Flightplan Records

Released: January 29, 2008

Some time in the 90s, pop punk generally began placing the pop over the punk in its approach to the point that it might be difficult to tell the difference between A New Found Glory and Avril Lavigne. That's sad, because punk has a long pop tradition that dates back at least to the Ramones' love affair with early 60s AM pop. The passion and anger and edginess of punk shouldn't have to be sacrificed for a hook. The Ramones, the Pistols, the Buzzcocks, and so many others created great music that was fully both pop and punk.

Title Fight understands this. Kingston, their three song 7" is catchy. The melodies are rough ones, but memorable. "Memorial Field" and "Loud and Clear" have some of the best guitar hooks this side of the Descendents and still beat with the heart of punk rock. Good as those tracks are, "Youreyeah" has their heart beating harder still as they delve into a bit of Stiff Little Fingers' raw, but catchy passion.

For those who've given up on pop punk, the time to come back is now and the reason to come back is Title Fight. Their brand of pop punk is every bit as catchy as the rest, but they bring back all the punch and abrasiveness of real, genuine punk rock as well.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 8/10
Overall: 7/10

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Review: New Found Glory - Hits

Label: Geffen Records

Released: March 18, 2008

A New Found Glory has always been a bit long on sappiness and short on edge, but when I bought Nothing Gold Can Stay, an album whose title is probably more a reference to S.E. Hinton than Robert Frost, it connected with me. It was an album that was geared toward kids 10 years or so younger than I was at the time, but rather than missing the 28 year-old that I was, it connected with the 18 year-old that was still within me. Sappy or not, that album will always be amazing to me for that reason. I sing along rather than cringe at its pop culture references.

New Found Glory not only dropped that charmingly awkward "A" from their name, but they also dropped everything else that appealed to me. Their self-titled album did include "Hit or Miss" and wasn't completely devoid of their special ability to make silly emo and pop-punk songs seem real, but it was waning. Beginning with Sticks & Stones, New Found Glory was just another band swimming in the overdramatic sea that had grown out of a promising genre. Whatever was special before was now entirely gone. They had succumbed to the formula.

Unfortunately, Hits culls its tracks from the days when there was nothing new about New Found Glory. Sure, "Hit or Miss" is there, but the real best of A New Found Glory is still Nothing Gold Can Stay. Hits may be aptly titled as it draws from their commercially successful period, but it is far from their best work.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 4/10
Aretha: 3/10
Overall: 4/10

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Review: Love and a .45 - Too Blonde For You

Label: Cheapshock Records

Released: November 5, 2007

Here's a short list of some of the bands I can hear in Love and a .45's music: Bad Religion, Rancid, Hole, Avail, Face to Face, a bit of the Replacements, even. The thing they all have in common is that they're American. What's odd is that Love and a .45 isn't. They're British. That's not a bad thing in its own, but it is indicative of the band's biggest problem: they can't really find their own voice.

That being said though, Love and a .45 does do some good things. First, they have a very good sense of hooks, making them a solid pop punk band. While most pop punk today seems to err on the side of emo, with whiney singers and cry-baby Sally songs, Love and a .45 stay clearly on the punk side of the line. They tend to be a bit too clean a bit too often, but even then, they certainly aren't sappy. When they're looser and grittier, they're able to dig into the song more and the result is some very good punk rock.

The sound definitely benefits from Kate Moritz's voice. She maintains a sense of melody, but keeps the rough edges that play into the album's high energy level. On occasion, she also shows that she can take the edge off, but never overuses the smoother side of her voice. At the opposite end of her spectrum, she proves to be a very good screamer, an art form all its own. She also uses this upper limit of her vocal power at only the right times.

Too Blond For You is not going to break any new punk rock ground, but it does avoid blurring the line between pop punk and emo. It would be nice if it had a better defined identity, but it thankfully hits all the hooks, showing that the price of pop isn't always the music's edge and energy.

Rating: 6/10

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Lance Hahn RIP

Lance Hahn of long underrated J Church passed away on October 21 due to complications from kidney disease. See lancehahn.org to share remembrances of Lance and to find out how you can help his family who is faced with significant medical bills after his prolonged illness.

Review: Fell Far Behind - Reaching the Red Line

Label: self-released

Released: September 18, 2007

There are bands that do most things right, but the few things they lack make all the difference between being good and lousy. Fell Far Behind is just such a band. They have many of the pieces in place: They're tight, they understand hooks, they're polished and the production on Reaching the Red Line is very good for a self-released album. However, they forgot to add emotion and they forgot to have original ideas. They play emo by the book and their only innovation (if you can call it that) is to bring the big guitar riffs of the 80s forward to the 00s. Like the melodic hard rock bands that influenced their approach, they too want to draw some of the energy from the edgier music of their time, water it down and pretty it up. While some songs do kick off with a burst of excitement, that feeling is short lived. They all quickly degenerate into dull repetition, sounding not just like every other song on the album, but every generic emo song on the planet. Mixing it up with a few ballads doesn't help them any more than it did their lackluster 80s forebears.

Fell Far Behind may well make it to the big time, but it will be for all the wrong reasons. They are easy and palatable, but never challenging, never even approaching the "red line" the title suggests. In a certain sense, they are good, but good at the things that can be learned, not the intangibles. Their music is carefully constructed, but only in an effort to mimic the vision of others. It's as if their heads are in the right place, but not their hearts.

Rating: 3/10

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Review: The Frantic - Audio & Murder

Label: Sinister Muse

Released: October 30, 2007

In the late 80s, whatever charm hair metal had a few years before was evaporating quickly. Most bands were more interested in fitting the mold than in breaking it. Yet there were still a few bands that worked the formula well enough that they were fun even if they were almost entirely meaningless. Pop punk has found itself in the same position over the last several years. Bands are a dime a dozen and almost none of them are punk bands in anything other than sound (and even that connection is tenuous at times). Chicago's The Frantic is very much in that class.

Their debut album, Audio & Murder, sets them up to be perhaps the Poison of pop punk with a little more work. Of course, that's the last thing any self-respecting punk wants to hear, but there are worse things (like being the Southgang or Trixter of pop punk). The Frantic don't break down any barriers, but they do play a catchy brand of punk that is maybe one part Ramones, one part Descendants and two parts Bad Religion. They don't ever have the sense of the simple pop song that the Ramones have, the teeth of Bad Religion or the clever fun of the Descendants, but they do have a fair amount of good time energy (they ought to, they're all 18 or under).

Most of the album's 25 minutes are standard fare, but played well and with enthusiasm. They do attempt to at least appear to branch out on "Movin' Along," but it just comes off as cheap 70s country rock. If you want to know the difference between The Frantic and a band that created the formula, compare "Heifer" to the Descendants' "Fat Beaver." Both have inane lyrics, but the Descendants pull it off both musically and lyrically. The Frantic end up sounding like they're just getting out of middle school, not high school.

All in all, this isn't a bad first effort from the Frantic. While their list of influences is probably a mile long, they won't be influencing anyone else anytime soon. Still, if they maintain their energy (and write some lyrics that are at least clever if they can't be intelligent), they could be a top commercial pop punk band. I guess that translates into a guilty pleasure at best.

Rating: 5/10

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Review: Turbo Fruits

Label: Ecstatic Peace

Released: July 17, 2007

Most of Turbo Fruits' self-titled album's strengths and weaknesses can be summarized by simply reviewing one song, their cover of the MC5's cover of "Ramblin' Rose." Both versions attempt to release enormous energy on the listener in the same way that an atomic bomb releases it's energy on a target. It takes a smaller explosion to create the exponentially larger one. The trick with the music as with the bomb is for the small explosion to keep it together to reach critical mass and detonate the real blast. The MC5, live, on the first track of their first album, are like freakin' Oppenheimer. They walk that very dangerous line, not sure that they can control the process, but they do and the result is brighter than a thousand suns. Turbo Fruits on the other hand have the energy of the small explosion, a pedestrian, conventional energy, an energy that has been harnessed and used for simple purposes by countless bands. But they never reach critical mass before everything breaks down, the real explosion never goes off and, next to the MC5's atomic bomb, theirs doesn't just pale, it's as imperceptible as a firecracker.

Luckily, most of the album doesn't have to live up to the MC5, but that doesn't change what Turbo Fruits do well and do poorly. Often the songs are loose to the point of floundering, because few of them have enough substance to keep the music on even a meandering path. A few do have moments that get into a groove and "Volcano" adds some quirky stops, making me wonder why they didn't focus on being a little odd rather than just being unrestrained. They do try to infuse the music with a lot of energy, but they're not strong enough as either players or writers to split musical atoms.

Rating: 4/10

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Free Foreign Born mp3

"Into Your Dream"

Check out the review of On the Wing Now.

Review: Foreign Born - On the Wing Now

Label: Dim Mak Records

Released: August 21, 2007

A lot of bands these days have been rehashing the 80s, but very few of them bring anything particularly new to the table. For me, it's really dull to have your own teenage years spit back to you as if it's new, so it's refreshing to hear a band do something interesting with it. Foreign Born are pretty steeped in the 80s, but they are most definitely not regurgitating it back. Instead, they take that era of post-punk, new-wave and pop, dig back to its influences and come up with their own sound.

Foreign Born's guitarist, Lewis Pesacov, has a degree in Composition and considering how carefully their songs are constructed from influences ranging from the Beatles to Mott the Hoople to early INXS, it's really not a surprise. Unlike many trained musicians though, Foreign Born don't find themselves constrained by that training. Instead, they've created an album that ebbs and flows in layers, from thin to thick and back again. They don't rely on overt hooks, but instead on an implied catchiness that makes the songs memorable as a whole rather than just a riff here and there.

After releasing two EPs, On the Wing Now is Foreign Born's first full-length. Not only is it full of material that could share a stage easily with indie, emo, punk or post-rock, but it also makes an open-ended promise for the future.

Rating: 8/10

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Review: Verona Grove - The Story Thought Over

Label: PRC/Universal

Released: August 21, 2007

In 1999, A New Found Glory released Nothing Gold Can Stay, a sappy pop punk album that made me feel the pain of being 17 again. Sure, some of the lyrics were over-dramatic and the vocals were whiny, but the album connected with me even though it was written for kids ten or so years my junior. The point is, A New Found Glory could get away with writing overly sensitive, immature love songs, because they were really good at it, the emo market wasn't completely flooded and they tapped into something universal. By the time they released their major label debut three years later, they were as stale as the genre.

What does this have to with Verona Grove you might ask? Everything. If pop punk drama queens were done in 2002, what makes Verona Grove think the genre is going anywhere in 2007? The Story Thought Over might as well be the latest A New Found Glory album. They don't just have similar musical DNA, they're a clone, made up of the same Crybaby Sally vocals, the same catchy hooks and crunchy (but not too crunchy) sound. True, there are couple places where they try other things, none of them original. They do a few piano ballads and "I Haven't Got Much (But I'm Getting Somewhere)" actually steals a bit from the generic hard rock of the late 80s as if that needed to be revisited. I had enough of new wave the first time and the revival certainly gives me more than my fill. I definitely didn't need Verona Grove to give it a shot on "Goodbye Surrender." They try their hand at a power ballad with "Revolution" and have the audacity to sing, "holding out for a revolution." Maybe they should count the number of revolutions started by power ballads. Yeah, that would be zero. So, the few times they stray from aping their principle influence, they choose to play at things long played out.

Verona Grove apparently wrote much of the album while they were transplanted from Oshkosh, WI to LA, given an apartment and expected to churn out a big seller. On "Smalltown Celebrity," they sing, "Teenage rockstar, / Only 30 years old. / Where the hell did high school go? / Welcome to the rock show." From another band, I might actually like those lyrics, but not from this band and not under these circumstances. Their mentors made me 17 again when I was 28, because they tapped into something universal. Verona Grove has had an extraordinary year that found them going from the small town to the big city. Instead of tapping into some universal discomfort, they've told a story to which no one can relate but them and they've told it in a medium that is long past its prime. If you like pop punk and emo, skip The Story Thought Over and pull Nothing Gold Can Stay back off the shelf.

Rating: 3/10

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Review: Watershed - Three Chords and a Cloud of Dust II

Label: Idol Records

Release Date: September 11, 2007

As Watershed well knows, a live album is a difficult proposition. Their 1994 debut (on Epic Records) didn't pan out the way I'm sure they'd hoped and now, 13 years later, they're trying again. The real difficulty with live albums is that it's hard to find that middle ground between too live, making it difficult to appreciate the music, and not live enough, making it difficult to feel the band's (and the crowd's) energy. While this album occasionally strays into the former, overall, it does a fine job of finding the best of both worlds.

Having successfully dealt with the most precarious problems of a live album, you'd think Three Chords and a Cloud of Dust II would be in the clear, but it's not. It's real troubles stem from Watershed's rather generic power pop/pop punk sound. The songs are all solid and there is little doubt that the large hometown crowd loves them (it was recorded at a sold-out show in Columbus, OH). The fact that this is an unedited live recording and nonetheless maintains its listenability is certainly a tribute to the band and their ability to be a tight live act that keeps the show moving. There are a few tracks like the opener, "Suckerpunch," and the lyrically and musically quirky "Mercurochrome" that stand out, but by and large the songs wouldn't have large appeal to anyone who doesn't care for Cheap Trick and all of their many followers. However, if that is your thing, this may be at the top of your live album hit list.

Having captured the energy of their live show, it's a shame that Watershed doesn't have a better repertoire to draw in people outside of their established fan base. Having spent time with their latest live effort, I am probably more prone to catch them when they come to town than I am to stock up on their studio efforts.

Rating: 5/10

Live: Deep Sleep, Liars Academy, Loved Ones and Strike Anywhere

May 16, 2007, The Ottobar, Baltimore, Maryland

First, this show was a benefit for a great cause. J. Robbins has given an awful lot to the music community over the years between his own bands and those he produced. Now, J.'s family is in need. His son Callum has Spinal Muscular Atrophy and his care requires more than insurance will pay. There was a nice turnout for the show, so that will hopefully help out the Robbins family. If you want to learn more or help out, check out For Callum.

In addition to being a great cause, the show was a real deal at $10 for four bands. First up was Baltimore locals Deep Sleep. Their set was short (under 20 minutes) and likely included every song on their 9-song debut 7". But it was a short, fast explosion. Borrowing heavily from Chavo-era Black Flag in both sound and presence, Deep Sleep may never become a great band, but they certainly ripped it up as an opener and got the show off on the right foot.

Deep Sleep was followed by Baltimore natives Liars Academy. They came out with three guitarists and I expected it was just a way to get all thier buddies in the band rather than actually serving a purpose. However, their riff-heavy brand of emo really employed the whole band's skills. The harmonies were usually a little off (something I'm sure they remedied in the studio), but they were otherwise tight. The lead vocals brought most of the emo elements to the table, but singer Ryan Shelkett did keep enough edge on his voice to avoid much of the sappiness that often weakens bands of that genre. Still, it had enough soft spots to make me wonder if the album had the same punch as the live show. While they weren't my favorite of the night, Liars Academy certainly were the most musically interesting.

Philadelphia's Loved Ones didn't have the creativity of Liars Academy, but they made up for it with good energy, good hooks and good nature. They played a set full of gritty, catchy punk along the lines of bands like Avail. While they weren't musically remarkable, they were very engaging, both in calling the audience to support the cause and to have fun at the same time. The Loved Ones are certainly up my alley and I would recommend catching them live if you can just because it's a guaranteed good time full of solid punk rock.

Strike Anywhere headlined the show. They're one of those bands that I like well enough, but never got tremendously excited about. They seemed like a good political punk band, spewing anger over fast and somewhat melodic songs, but not particularly special among their peers. I had no idea what I was in for though. Strike Anywhere played 50+ minutes of pure adrenalin, their righteous anger full of love. I don't know if I've ever seen a band blast out that much energy over a full set. I've always thought there were two reasons to be really angry: because you hate the world or because you love the world. The latter is the one that resonates with me and that is exactly why Strike Anywhere's set felt so good. Despite the crowd's demands, they didn't come back for an encore and I applaud them for it. Why should they when they left everything out there in the set? They had nothing left to prove and probably little energy left to give. If anyone complained, they must've been in the bathroom for the whole set, because there was no reason to walk away anything less than elated.