4 Wheel Vibe
Amazon
Bringing a little more energy to the table,
this sophomore album is filled with more, well, sophomoric punk
pop. Granted, I've certainly heard more whiny, more jokey and
more earnest versions of this stuff out there--none of which
are good in great amounts. Bracket's version of the punk thing
is much more middle of the road. They don't seem to care about
politics or take a stand on pot or anything. In fact, they don't
really stand for much at all. And maybe that's their downfall.
Sometimes making semi-catchy tunes isn't enough, ya know? Sure,
there's some angst. Sure, there's some strumming. Sure, there's
some fun and, uh, punkishness, but ultimately, this band blends
into the popunk wallpaper. |
924 Forestville St.
Amazon
Who didn't go through their pop-punk thing
in the mid-nineties? I mean, Greenday
was kicking ass, and every Californian with a guitar and amp
had a "punk" band. I was still young enough at that point to
justify liking the aural candy of this somewhat whiny genre
of headbopping ditties about girls, cars, school and mom and
dad. This genre made it okay to harmonize. They made it okay
to admit you were tortured by jocks in high school, as these
guys do to their ode to physical awkwardness, "Dodgeball." It
was emo before emo was emo. This album is pretty by-the-numbers
stuff--not bad, but certainly not breaking any ground. Debut's
can go either way like that. They can either be groundbreaking
and amazing (and inevitably followed up by sophomore disappointment),
or will more likely sound like a new band just starting to find
their legs and imitating their influences. This one is lacking
something in terms of energy and originality, but I'm going
to stick around to see what happens with the second album (which
I also happen to own). |
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