Crutches

The Copyrights; ever since starting in 2002, they've rocked all over the place playing their Screeching Weasel influenced pop punk. Nine years later the band is releasing a new EP, Crutches. It's four tracks of pop punk goodness, the EP's double-edged sword. All four songs are all infectiously catchy; they make you want to sing and dance along. However, they're all very similar and follow the standard pop punk formula. It's not a bad formula to stick to, but it doesn't leave much room for experimentation. That being said, the EP itself is a well-done release. As previously stated, it's catchy, an EP you can listen to the whole way through a few times over. But, if you don't pay too close attention, the tracks do run together and it can be tough to discern one song from another.

Look at it this way though: It's the Copyrights. It's Red Scare. It's pop punk. When you look at these three facts it's pretty easy to fall in love with the EP. Despite the few flaws it has, it's good. It's damn good really, and helps solidify the Copyrights as one of the best pop punk bands around.

7/10

 

 http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/crutches-single/id442001027

 Guys, come on. It's Red Scare, one of the best labels around, releasing the Copyrights, one of the best pop punk bands around. It's like, two bucks, for four tracks. Four! That's fifty cents a song. Get it.

Hold On, Dodge

Talk about a band that's made waves. A relatively young band, Scranton's Menzingers formed in 2006. Last year, they released the critically acclaimed Chamberlain Waits on Red Scare. The album was considered one of the best of the year, and got them national acclaim. Before that album however, there was this EP.

Released in '09, the five song EP ("Kentucky Gentleman" is a bonus track) is a great one. The Menzingers really have everything going for song-writing ability. Between lyrical content, dual vocals, and great instrument playing, The Menzingers can pay. Not only that, but songs like "Lilith Avi" expand upon the typical punk sound, with a guitar that sounds more like the Dire Straits' "Walk of Life". The last song, "Kentucky Gentleman", is a wonderfully done acoustic ballad and makes a great sing-a-long.

Hold On, Dodge is a great EP. It's short and sweet and gives a great taste of what this band can do. There's not a single bad song on the EP. The only downside is that it's an EP; much too short for the Menzingers.

8/10

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hold-on-dodge/id312441237

Boom. $3.99. Purchase. Now.

Death By Television

The Lillingtons were a pop punk band from Wyoming, around from '96 to '01 (and kind of from '06 to '08). Though always a pop punk, their later albums were different from their first. Their debut album, Shit Out Of Luck, was definitely a Ramones-core pop punk album. Pretty basic instrumentation with immature lyrics, i.e., My Genitals Itch. It was catchy, really catchy, but plenty of bands do the same thing. Then, in 1999, they released their sophomore album, Death By Television. With a complete lyric overhaul to a 1950s sci-fi kind of thing, The Lillingtons both matured and became better musicians.

The albums opener, "War Of The Worlds", serves as a great lead-off track. Opening with a great guitar solo, Kody Templeman's (now of Teenage Bottlerocket) voice has become much better. As the track leads into the second song, the energy keeps flowing, with "Don't Trust The Humanoids" being even shorter and faster than the previous track. Track three though slows things down a tad. Clocking in at 3:16, "Black Hole In My Mind" is the longest song on the album. Complete with guitar solos and backing vocals, the track serves to show just how good of musicians the entire band really is. The band really picks up the speed on "Invasion Of The Saucermen". The song is blazing fast, the chorus is catchy; complete with repeated lines. The song has a breakdown in the middle, which really puts the brakes on the song and leads it into the mellower next few tracks. The next song, the slower paced "You're The Only One" hails back to their first album for lyrically content. It's a standard pop punk love tune. They're nice, they make you smile, but they're so played out.

After their love song, the album reverts back to the science fiction themed lyrics with song titles like "I Came From The Future", "Robots In My Dreams", etc. The sci-fi themed album is a great concept and really separates Death By Television from the rest of the standard pop punk albums released at the same. Sure, most of the instrumentation is pretty generic, especially the drumming, but, it's catchy and it keeps the songs moving. The Lillingtons were a great pop punk from the 90s, and luckily Kody keeps up with the current pop punk scene by playing in Teenage Bottlerocket.

9/10

http://redscare.storenvy.com/products/10141-the-lillingtons-death-by-television-cd-cccp-105-2
Red Scare re-released the album and it's only nine dollars!