Out For Summer - Notti di Follia
NEW AND FAIRLY NEW POP-PUNK THAT'S LIT!
Pop-punk rules, if it’s done right. Here are four bands that undeniably do it right. Three of the four are very recently released, and the fourth dropped at the end of May this year.
Cleveland Avenue
CityState - Celebration
Hailing from Holyoke, Massachusetts, pop-punk outfit CityState dropped a new EP, called Celebration, like two days ago.
CityState is made up of Tony (guitar, vocals), Rob (guitar, vocals), Andy (drums, vocals), and Surprise (bass). According to their Facebook page, the band likes beer and enjoys causing trouble.
Celebration encompasses four-tracks, starting off with “Who Needs Friends With Shitidiots Like These?,” which rides tight growling guitars full of beau coup sonic punch, gleaming breakdowns, rumbling drums, and grand vocals rife with oodles of punk attitude.
All four tracks deserve attention, so give ‘em a whirl and see what you think.
Out For Summer – Notti di Follia
Straight out of Modena, Italy comes pop-punk trio Out For Summer, with a fairly new album released at the end of May, featuring seven-tracks. Entitled Notti di Follia, which means “Nights of Madness,” this is an excellent album.
Made up of Claudio Maglio (vocals, guitar), Luca Marmi (bass), Francesco Talglini (drums), and Bruno Ghion (guitar), the lyrics are in Italian, which I don’t understand. But the vocals are good, as are the harmonies, and the music sustains mega sonic heft, with finessed potent guitars.
I love the rumbling drums prior to the stuttering bridge prior to the sizzling solo.
Sarchasm – We Covered Nirvana So You Don't Have To!
Berkeley, California “intersectional bummer punk-pop” outfit Sarchasm just released a two-track EP, called We Covered Nirvana So You Don't Have To!
Their Bandcamp page describes the band as: “Sarchasm are three introverts with lisps of varying severity and radically different coffee shop orders, unified by their love of superheroes, burritos, and ugly button-up shirts. They make music about mountains and friendships gone wrong.”
Sarchasm is Mari (guitar), Scout (guitar), Alex (bass), Stevie (drums), and “sometimes” Benny (keyboards).
“Pennyroyal Tea” opens on melancholic guitars flowing into a dark, deep, throbbing melody radiating thick colors and muscular snarling guitars. “You Know You’re Right” travels on rumbling percussion capped by low-slung grinding guitars and Nirvana-flavored vocals. Actually, Sarchasm pulls it off quite well, as covering Nirvana is not for the faint of heart.
Cleveland Avenue - True Love Is Not Just a Pizza Tattoo
Cleveland Avenue, a pop-punk band from Chicago, just released their “first good EP,” entitled True Love Is Not Just a Pizza Tattoo, which, frankly, is a less than stellar title, but since these guys have it going on musically, we’ll overlook the inane title.
The band’s FB page designates their sounds as “pop-punk af,” and lists the band members: Defonte (Joshua) Berry (vocals), Thomas Bulvan (guitar, vocals), Kevin Patrick (guitar), Dominic Carabez (bass), and Adam Gay (drums).
With four-tracks, opening with the title track, which features muscular guitars, tight and right breakdowns, and Berry’s perfect-for-pop-punk voice, this song kicks sonic ass. I love the rumbling drums prior to the stuttering bridge prior to the sizzling solo.
All four tracks are superb, but my fave is “Christmas Day,” simply because of its driving flow and crunching drums. Good shit! These guys definitely know how to push it out and vaguely remind me of Fall Out Boy back when they were good, only Cleveland Avenue is actually better.
