Mint – American Style

The cover of Mint’s second album, American Style, is generic. It obviously resembles an American flag, with the stars lining the inside of the printed “Mint.” Sorry, Mint, but you are missing six stars. That’s not very respectful to the country that lent itself to your album’s title. But I forgive you, for that doesn’t mean the band is boring and messy. Well, in this case, it does mean that. Mint is quite mediocre. They are not bad, but they are nothing special that begs for the ears to hazard a listen.
The album opens promisingly with Mint’s take on the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey, “Also Sprach Zarathustra.” And this brings us to one of the band’s main turn-offs: John Nickles’ vocals. At times unbearable, occasionally unobtrusive, but usually just annoying, Nickles’ voice detracts from the quality of the record. His voice sounds like an almost-as-annoying version of Rob Thomas (if that is at all possible). Listen to the band’s cover of Madonna’s “Into the Groove” for a vocal sample that physically pains the inner ear. It never fails to bring me shivers.
Apparently, it is Mint’s aim to make it onto the airwaves of modern rock radio. Their dreams could probably be answered. They do have a certain radio-friendly sound, but not in the good way that stated influences Weezer and Superdrag have (“Hideaway” could almost be on a Superdrag album). “Pierced and Tattooed” supposedly “brings to mind Weezer.” Yes, its lyrics may bring to mind the worst of The Green Album: “I need some loving from you / I’m willing to do just what I have to / don’t give me up / I’ll make the cut / and then my love will be true / oh-oh / but do I gotta get pierced and tattooed / just to sit next to you.” Another song that breaks new grounds in lyrical prose is the song entitled “I’ve Got a Crush.” The chorus goes a little something like this, “I’ve got a crush / a crush on you!”
Yet there is a certain amount of catchy-ness here. Surprisingly, the more bearable tracks on American Style surface after the 10th song. The last five tracks are less typical and more laid-back, where acoustic guitars start to show themselves. And more importantly, where Nickles’ voice calms down and allows the music to not be so smothered. “Following You” is a short, pleasant acoustic number where Nickles obeys that ‘6-inch voice’ rule he was taught in kindergarten. Perhaps even more satisfying is “Radio,” with its hypnotic, standout bass lines. “Love Bug” is the most impressive song here, with a screeching guitar and five-minute length that allows the song to actually develop into something listenable. The opening guitar actually does bring to mind the Pixies (an influence stated in the liner notes). This is not to say, however, that Mint sounds like or ever reaches the level of musical ability that the Pixies did.
Mint does have potential to be something more than what they currently are: a decent radio band. Had American Style been shortened to 10 songs (I could have done without “Everything,” “I Deserve,” “You’re So Attached,” “Into the Groove,” and “I’ve Got a Crush”) and sequenced a little less predictably (the piano-driven “Goodnight Forever” brings the album to a close), this album might have garnered slightly more praise. The members can play their instruments, but not in a way that has not been done so many times before. So many times better. As it stands, American Style is a record that presents nothing new in music. The liner notes suggest, “For Best Results Play Twice.” I’ve listened to the album well over two times. American Style is not at the level of complexity or contain any hidden surprises that will change your view on the album after the first listen.

G.T. Arpe – Drum and Drum

I have a new frisbee. My new frisbee comes in a clear, shiny jewel CD case and has “G.T. Arpe, Drum & Drum” written on it.
This is the type of music you might expect an escaped mental patient to be performing on a street corner somewhere in the hopes of having spare change tossed into his cup. The 10 tracks on this self-written and self-produced CD-R come equipped with catchy/idiotic titles like “Romance Isn’t Romantic,” “Me Brain Broke,” “Picasso Was No Asshole,” and “Don’t Be Coming to My Funeral (When We Can Get Together Now).” Even the album artwork shows hints of utter insanity, with lo-fi stick figures and pictures cut and pasted from magazines. Musically, you are faced with a voice, some assorted keyboard and guitar effects, and tons of homemade percussion, ranging from the jangling of car keys to the banging of garbage cans.
Some songs are mildly amusing, such as “I Am a Skunk,” which begins with the classic line, “I am a skunk / My roommates say I smell / I would get more offended / But I don’t cause its true.” You can’t help but have a tiny bit of respect for anyone brave enough to write and perform this stuff, but on the other hand, it is just too stupid to be respectable. Some may say that something so bizarre must be hiding a sort of genius underneath, but this one-man project is overly simplified and overly stupid. I felt dumber after listening to it.

Robert Kunin – She Went Up to Heaven

You know, there really is nothing less funny than a comedian. Not that I’m a connoisseur of comedy, but I can’t remember the last time I saw a remotely humorous standup comedian. I mean, have you ever actually listened to Jay Leno’s monologue? The average person on the street could come up with stuff funnier than that. True humor in music is something to be cherished, too, but nearly impossible to reach without slipping into the pit of over-the-top-stupidity. As such, most music that is funny is probably so unintentionally or out of necessity. Be honest, there is no way you could listen to a band like the Shaggs, with their off-meter drumming, sour half-strummed guitar chords, and three-part monotone vocals and not succumb to fits of laughter. The sheer audacity of a group so imprecise recording an album makes their one and only Philosophy of the World, the most deeply hilarious album I’ve ever heard. Robert Kunin makes me laugh the same way.
Though Robert Kunin is a more polished musician than any of the Shaggs, he is every bit as audacious. Of course, this makes his music somewhat of a mystery. You never know if the humor is intentional or simply the product of a rather amateurish aesthetic. Regardless, it’s pretty darn funny at times. Intensely lo-fi, with echoing vocals and two guitars forming most of the tracks, Kunin wraps his Tom Waits-via-Kermit the Frog groaning around some of the most absurdly goofy verse in recent memory. With two-part vocals excitedly accusing “Why don’t you love me?” quickly echoed by a hoarsely shrieked “Love me!” in the surreal call and response of “Above Me,” it’s hard not to at least crack a smile. Similarly, the two guitars of “I Can Fly,” both provided by Kunin, aren’t completely in sync with each other, with the tangled guitar lines jumping in mad circles and matching the drums that don’t always land directly on the beat.
At times reminiscent of the most raw Silver Jews recordings, Kunin’s mix of acoustic and fuzzy electric guitars and his straightforward lyricism is not nearly as coy or obscure as anything David Berman may come up with, but it is still uniquely engaging in its own way. The album climaxes with the epic “Alcohol and Drugs,” which finds our narrator waking up from an alcohol stupor to find blood on his hands and his girlfriend dead at the foot of the bed. As he is subsequently sent to jail (rhymed with “bail” as you could guess), fried in the electric chair, and sent to heaven to meet God, our protagonist answers every challenge with the words “Alcohol and drugs – all I need.” It’s about the time that he defiantly replies to God’s redressing of his earthly behavior with only the above sentence fragment that the album crosses over into surreal absurdity, although he nearly outdoes himself when his character gets bored and requests leaving heaven because of the absence of rock and roll.
The album closes with two (!) versions of the title track, the words of which are barely intelligible but seem to be about a woman going to heaven wearing a red dress and “turning them all on” with her dancing. Sure, that’s a willfully sleazy image, but it’s darkly laughable by the time the second, even rougher version of the track follows the first already ragged rendition.
Although you’d never find this album filed under “comedy,” just as you’d never find Frank Zappa classified as such, Kunin’s not-so-serious approach to songwriting gives him distinction in a genre that didn’t need another singer-songwriter talking about the turmoil of his/her own existence or the tragedy of failed love. Ultimately, he’s not a particularly exceptional musician or songwriter in any traditional sense, but in creating a unique and distinctive work, free of pretension and brimming with skewed sincerity, Robert Kunin wholeheartedly succeeds.

Jetenderpaul – Presents the Modal Lines

It’s become quite clear now that the creative rivalry between the Beach Boys and the Beatles in the late 60’s produced more than two great records (Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, respectively). It has inspired more than its fair share of unimaginative hack songwriters who continually strive toward a psych-pop standard that they could not possibly be expected to meet. That being said, I’ve never been much of a fan of the Elephant 6/Kindercore pop scene. In fact, I’ve remained quite naive about the whole thing. I know enough, however, to be able to place Jetenderpaul, a band from the spectacular Burnt Toast Vinyl roster, in that twee-pop scene (and not just because their promo information would have you believe so). And while I won’t be able to tell you just exactly how much this sounds like the Apples in Stereo or Of Montreal or any of those similar bands, I can do my best to be cynical and jaded about the whole thing.
I’m really quite past expecting very much from these retro-pop bands. Their sphere of influence is often so small and insulated that incestuous and uncreative music often results. Jetenderpaul do occasionally fall under this trap, though they avoid it enough to keep me from totally hating this album. “The Design” opens the album with a whirring adrenaline rush of sugar melodies that is so abrupt you almost cringe. It starts so quickly I found myself hitting repeat on my CD player just to better absorb the one-minute flare of a song that kicks off the album. The second song, “A Readjustment,” moves into more comfortable territory with several keyboards and what sounds like a flute playing in the background.
After that, the band pretty much follows a simple formula. Keyboards (or occasionally some jangling guitars) lay the basis for the track, some psychedelic instrumentation runs circles around the track, and the singer’s good but unremarkable voice sounds slightly buried among the mix, often sounding like he’s singing underwater. This works on the standout tracks: “The Piles of Paper Left by you” rides a strong Beach Boy’s vibe, “Before You Became Princess Belltower” slows things up a little but is remarkably pretty, and the patchwork “Hudson Bay Drive” all sound remarkably good. “The Secret of the Day” and “Twenty-One” sound just enough like the Flaming Lips to keep things interesting and vary the formula a bit.
But the formula tires as well. After repeated listens, I can still hardly differentiate between “All I Wanted to Remember,” “Bonaventure (A Prototype),” and several other songs, all of which have the same sonic pieces, textures and tempos. The chiming “Breaking Candy Hearts” epitomizes the whimsical, somewhat throwaway approach of a twee-pop band. The hook line is “breaking your heart, with lollipops and sweet-tarts,” and the rest of the song sounds similarly delicate and cliched.
In the end though, Jetenderpaul come out on top more often than not, and if they aren’t a strikingly better alternative to Elephant 6 and Kindercore, they do offer yet another strong band to Burnt Toast Vinyl’s strong, diverse lineup. If you’re a big fan of this sort of throwback psych-pop, this band does about as well as anyone I’ve heard (take that with a grain of salt, please). If you’re not, don’t blame Jetenderpaul. Curse out the Beatles and the Beach Boys for their childish competition.

Pinehurst Kids – Bleed it Dry

I don’t think I have anything to say about The Pinehurst Kids that I haven’t already said. They’re a rock band, not an emo band, despite the “kids” part of their name. They’re not really a pop band, despite bouncy, light moments. They’re not going to get much mainstream air play because their sound isn’t popular these days to the mainstream audience. They’re not really Pavement-esque indie rock. So where exactly do they fit in?

I don’t know, really. They’re just an up-tempo, fast-paced, guitar-focused rock band. If this was 1996 or so, I’d say they’re “alternative” or college rock, but whether those things exist anymore, I’m not sure. The sound of those days was crisp guitar with little distortion and effects, fast-paced songs, catchy hooks. That’s the Pinehurst Kids to a tee, and they’d sound perfect on a mix disc with Sugar, Best Kissers in the World, and Dramarama. Too bad it’s 2001 and people don’t remember those bands. Because while the sound doesn’t go out of style and still is fun, it’s not quite as relevant.

Pretty much all of the songs here are relatively similar in style and sound: all upbeat and centered around crisp, clean guitar lines and Joe Davis’ ethereal voice. “Spinning Out” starts out with a bit of a lighter, more atmospheric sound and a head-bobbing, sing-along chorus, and the single, “The Onceler,” is a more moody and urgent song with an intense, in-your-face chorus. Things get even faster on “Rollover” and then quiet down just a tad on “I Woke Up.” It seems to go that way throughout, with the faster songs being more catchy, the slower songs more intense.

“All I Know” is about the closest to a slow sound on this album, and yet the same up-tempo rhythm keeps the song plugging away nicely. Only here, Davis’ vocals take over as the focus from the guitar, and his vocals, while unique and strong, are almost too high-pitched and ethereal to be the focus. “Planet of the Apes” is a timely release, and the chorus is quite intense, as Davis comes closest to a scream that I’ve heard, while the song maintains a poppy feel. “Deconstruct” is a little more hard-rock and almost punk in the percussion and pace, while organs come in to lend a neat and more original sound on “No Show,” one of the album’s highlight tracks. Again, “Shepherd to Lost Sheep” has something of a punk rhythm, while the closer, “Flashbulbs,” is again more urgent and moody without giving way to quiet emo-style music. The keyboards again add a nice touch, and Davis sings with a hint of desperation, “flashbulbs go off in time / and burn this in my mind / I walk the line for you / but I cannot make this real / is nothing left / a half ass excuse / just an empty bottle now.”

As much as I like The Pinehurst Kids – and I do like them – their album sound very similar with little change in sound. There’s some maturing since their first release, Minnesota Hotel, but if you liked Viewfinder, you’d like Bleed it Dry, as they’re cut from the same cloth. These songs are catchy and fun to listen to and play at high volume, and Davis’ high-pitched vocals and stellar, crisp guitar keep them sounding unique, but you really won’t remember this album much after it’s through. There’s nothing wrong with that, I guess.

Lush – Best of Lush – Ciao!

I didn’t know much of the history of Lush until reading about them for this compilation. You wouldn’t think that a band with only four albums would deserve a best of compilation, but in Lush’s case, it’s probably warranted. I knew the band in their early years as a purveyor of textured, punk-infused British rock and was thus surprised when, in the late-90’s, they went as pop-alternative as you can get.
It’s a bit disconcerting to listen to this album and get the songs in reverse order. You don’t get to hear the band develop, and by the end – the band’s early songs – you forget the later work. But it’s the later work, off Lovelife, that are the inevitable result of this band. Like the hit “Ladykillers,” for example, which lead singer Miki Berenyi said was an attempt to use every gimmick – hand claps, backup vocals, etc. – to force a hit and the almost sweet, Juliana Hatfield-esque “Single Girl.” These later songs show the band embracing the blossoming alternative style of modern rock in the late-90’s, and they show a band confident with their style of punky pop with those hypnotizing, accent-laced female vocals and energy. “Ciao!,” which features Berenyi dueling vocals with Jarvis Cocker, is catchy and bouncy, while “500 (Shake Baby Shake)” is the kind of crisp, dreamy, guitar-focused single that evokes the band’s earlier sound.
It’s interesting that their 1994 album Split had some of their best work and yet was the worst received. It was, in fact, likely this album that proved the downfall of the band. They toured the hell out of it and then overcompensated on Lovelife with slick production and the sense that they were trying too hard. But here the band’s dreamy, textured sound mixes with better production and heart. The gorgeous “Light from a Dead Star” is slightly gothic and flowing, while “Hypocrite” is a really rocking track, full of textured guitars and punk attitude. “Desire Lines” is quiet and powerful and moody at over seven minutes, and “Lovelife” evokes 80’s guitar and thick, loopy atmospherics. The mostly acoustic “When I Die” proved to be one of their most lovely songs.
Their first two albums, Scar in 1989 and Spooky in 1992, show a bit more of the punk-rock side of the band. Unsure of their own vocals, they turn them down in the mix and emphasize layers of guitars that spawned the textured Lush sound. “Nothing Natural” almost has a crunchy, grungy guitar sound despite it’s slower, Cocteau Twins feel. The vocals on “For Love” and “Sweetness and Light” are almost unnaturally sweet, not possessing the attitude-filled snarl that’s obvious on their later – and to some degree earliest – work. But then songs like “Monochrome” and “De-luxe” are delightful, spiraling, textured swirls of sound. Some of their earliest songs, “Thoughtforms” and “Etheriel” show the most textured sound, with layers of guitar fuzz and vocals mixed low and ambient into the mix.
Unfortunately, Lush never really got the attention they deserved. After some brief buzz from their earliest releases, their music got destined for “alternative” status, and just as they developed their real sound, they broke up. Constant touring took its toll, and drummer Chris Acland, warned by his doctor to rest, ended up hanging himself. The band broke up for good and seemed destined for obscurity again.
Still, I think Lush were eventually a groundbreaking band, influencing acts like Veruca Salt and Garbage. Those powerful female vocals and the mix of textured, dreamy, yet punk-rock styles were innovative, and even though they never did fully realize their potential with a great record, they produced a number of catchy and impressive songs. Perhaps a best of isn’t the best way to remember them when all of their albums are still in print, but it’s a worthy starting point for new fans.

Kolya – S/T

You can read a lot into the material record labels send out with their releases. Caulfield goes into a long discussion about how genres are irrelevant and let the music of Kolya speak for itself. Translation: they can’t figure out how to describe it either.
Somewhere between modern post-rock and math-rock and mid-90’s emo lie Kolya’s brand of jerky, powerful, emphatic music. The percussion is complex, and time changes abound. The guitar comes fast and yet melodic, oddly tuned and mixing with a thick bass. And the vocalists almost never sing, instead speaking and practically shouting, but never giving way into screams. Sometimes it’s one person, sometimes multiple parts. And one moment the guitars will be coming fast and furious – yet never quite falling into the hardcore realm of some of this band’s counterparts – and the next it will be soft and melodic. It’s never too loud, never quite soft, but always twisted and powerful.
From the first shouted “We talked / like noises / that go away / when lights turn on” to kick off “Robots Dream in Black and White,” the song takes you on a convoluted series of twists and turns, going from deep, thick guitar and spoken vocals to more up-tempo guitar and practically shouted, stream-of-consciousness lyrics. There’s almost singing on “Somnambulism,” and it’s almost shouting, yet this variation lends this song a more intense and powerful feel, as much as the more rocking guitars do. My favorite track, “Resuscitation” reminds me quite a bit of Current and Indian Summer, and I get shivers at the spoken lyrics (“It took longer than I thought it would, to find a blank space / And my heart pounded loudly as I thought of… and began to write again”), the winding guitars, the more moody feel.
In something of a DC-shouty feel, “Escape Artist” starts with dueling vocalists, one shouting “exit,” the other “the stage,” and they mix vocals throughout this herky-jerky track. There’s more of that on the somewhat Q and Not U-style “The Death of Ivan Ilych,” while “Astronaut” has a bit of a slower At the Drive-In sound to it, more moody and focused on some stellar crisp guitar lines. “Cymbals Vs. Skateboards” sounds a bit like old Indian Summer, with spoken vocals accompanied mostly by percussion and some guitar bursts, but here backing vocals are used now and then, softly sung “whoa-oh-oh.” By “Idaho,” the band has calmed down and even sing somewhat to a more restrained song for almost a Boys Life sort of feel. “Horizons” ends along the same feel, only more moody, more urgent and angry even, as the lead singer speaks “In it you can sense that perfection is forever all around us… and not meant to be human.”
No, I have no idea how to describe Kolya either. After the first few listens, I was turned off by the spoken vocal style and thick-feeling tone to the guitars and bass, but repeated listens pounded the intensity and brilliance of this band into my head. No, I didn’t even like it much at first, yet now I play it over and over again. The vocals grated at first but now come packed with feeling that reminds me of the great mid-90’s emo bands. Maybe that’s why I love this so much. Kolya combine that feel with more modern DC- and math-rock feel, and it makes for one hell of an album.

Biddy Biddy Biddy – Detroit – The Shelter, MI – 2001-07-27

I love the Shelter. Thursday night’s show was just another in an on-going series of $6 extravaganzas, with four pretty distinct rock sounds represented on the bill. Again, my dad accompanied me to the show for two reasons: 1) he’s down with the local rock scene, which is cool as all hell, and 2) he’s big and mean looking, so I always feel safer in downtown Detroit with him around. Well, OK, three reasons, the third being that I didn’t have any available form of transportation for the evening.

Biddy Biddy Biddy started off the evening with a 25-minute set of what could best be described as “conspiracy rock” (well, lyrically, anyhow). The band was actually really tight, tossing out four- and five-minute upbeat dirges laced with various samples and effects courtesy of the lead vocalist’s little black box (similar to the one Gibby Haynes used a few years ago for the Butthole Surfer’s “Pepper”). Biddy Biddy Biddy put on a decent enough live show, but they really seemed to lack the edge that the other bands on the bill carried. Set highlight: The lead singer copping a sample from the original Nintendo version of “Castlevania.”

Inside Five Minutes occupied the next half-hour of show time with thick guitar grooves and wildman Stretch Armstrong antics by frontman Aron Lozo. As always, the interplay between the band’s guitarists was top-notch, while the set list seemed to reflect more of I5M’s blues roots than previous shows I’ve seen. The band ripped out a few new tracks, the best of which was the bluesy romp “Street Rats,” though the highlight of I5M’s set was a blistering version of the groove-laden “Junkies and Ex-Girlfriends.” I don’t think this band is physically capable of putting on a live show that doesn’t completely rock.

End It was, well, an interesting experience. If this show were a Sesame Street record, this band would have been the “One of these things is not like the other” song. End It was ’straight-up, in your face, even harder than Pantera before they pussed-out’ metal. Hard. Fast. Loud. The singer screamed while the guitarist (who strangely resembled Snowball from “Clerks”) chugged out power chord after power chord, slowing up only to toss in a few guitar solos that provided brief respites from the band’s grinding pace. I am known to throw myself around to metal every so often, and I kinda dug these guys. I’m not sure that I’d always be in the mood to hear stuff like End It, but these guys were really good for what they do.

Eventually, Small Brown Bike took the stage and completely owned the crowd. I actually saw SBB play a few years back, and while I liked the show, the band came off kinda sloppy. Man, how the times change. Everything was spot-on for SBB, from the heavy-but-melodic guitars and solid rhythm section to the “scream-by-committee” vocal approach taken by both guitarists and the bass player. Most of the set came from the band’s most recent release, Dead Reckoning, although SBB did throw in a few tracks from Our Own Wars, as well as the very pretty and intense “My Unanswered Whys,” which is featured on a new split 7″ with Cursive. I find it amazing that three guys can scream their lungs out while their drummer pounds the living hell out of his set, and everything ends up sounding pretty and poetic. I have yet to hear any other band with the amazing dynamic that Small Brown Bike has. Speaking of the drummer, he’s new – his name is Jeff, and this was one of his first shows with the band. It was almost impossible to tell he hadn’t been with the band for years … Well, with the exception of his missing the intro beat to one song, but I’ll forgive him for that. Impassioned vocals + two shredding guitars + great low end bass and balls-out drumming = Great live set. Set highlight: The band prompting a show of hands to decide the set closer, ultimately leading to a searing live performance of “Holiday.”

Man, these $6 shows are gonna be the death of me. They leave way too much beer money in my pocket. Still, I’ll happily let the alcoholic consumption drive me to an early grave if it means I get to hear more shows like this.

Last Man Standing NJ – Too Fast to Live, too Young to Die

New Jersey, the garden state, with too many kids growing up to be vandals and anarchists. It makes me sick. These Chester, N.J. punk rockers have just put out a demo which is more hardcore-punk than punk. The music itself is very punk rock, but the vocals have a slight cringe in them to give it a little more flavor, which is totally cool.

In the end there is an ice punk rock solo that the guitarist plays to lead into the end. The drummer definitely needs to work on his fills, but even Saves the Day’s first album had bad drum fills, so it’s ok considering this is from their demo. “Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die,” I don’t get it, but maybe someone else does, so that’s ok as well.

The song starts out really fast and slows down a little bit when the vocals come in. Then it speeds up again in the chorus and stays at that speed the entire song. The production on this song is not too good. The mix itself is ok, but I could see some better sounding guitars and drums in there. Maybe a piccolo snare drum or something, or maybe something else going on with the drums rather than a regular punk beat. That does get boring after a little while.

If you are a fan of Rancid or Anti-Flag, definitely download these songs because they aren’t bad at all. They just need some tune-ups.

Runaway Orange – Say the Word

Coming from New Jersey myself, I’ve heard good things and bad things about this Sewaren, NJ indie band. They play many punk shows in Jersey, which rocks for any band. Being a four-piece, it’s a lot easier and a lot more exciting to write catchy songs and play them live and then listen to them when they’re recorded. You can tell with Blink 182, when they added more guitars on Enema of the State and the guitars on Dude Ranch, that more of one thing can make a huge difference. I can tell at least three different guitar riff’s going at the same time in this song, which totally makes a difference.

I’m not too big on the lead singers voice. It kinda seems as he should be singing in a ska band. Scary enough, he does sound like the singer to an old ska band from Jersey called President Lemon.

The songs starts out pretty fast with a slight breakdown in the beginning, which usually never happens, and then the song speeds up more. Speed is always a plus in rock. Harmonies? They are ok. Not the greatest, but doable as you can tell. At one point there was a little screaming in the background. Not like metal type screaming, but a singing with a grunt on the end. That’s the best way to describe it. And screaming is also a plus.

I like the changes, even though there aren’t any fills in between them. “Why can’t I see through You? Why can’t I stare into your eyes?” is repeated in the chorus, and sang so perfectly. I don’t know where these guys recorded, but the production is great, and the effects you gotta love. I would recommend this song to people who enjoy A New Found Glory, or Midtown. But what sucks is that that style of music is so boring after many many bands start sounding the same.

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