PUNK ROCK PLAYLIST #1

LOWER THAN ATLANTIS – WORLD RECORD

This album has been released but it leaked in March and it was pretty much all I listened to that month. I never really used to get Lower Than Atlantis because the songwriting seemed really spazzy and they didn’t seem to be able to decide if they were a hardcore band, or a pop punk band or a Gallows/Blakfish tribute band or what. On this album they seem to have found their identity though, going for a more pop punk/rock/grunge kind of sound and with a bigger focus on catchy melodies and an improvement in the lyrical content – which although still clearly very personal is a lot more intelligent and less conversational than their previous output – they seem to have struck gold. At this point I can’t really see a UK band releasing a better album this year.

CYNICS – DAVE AND ANGELA EP

Although the comparisons with Tom Gabel and Against Me! are so obvious they are barely worth mentioning, Cynics still produce heartfelt punk rock that threatens to get everyone in the room singing along and tapping their feet. Kinda like early Against Me! right? The lyrics are great and Giles really captures events and feelings in his songs that everyone can relate to, which is a lot harder than it sounds. His Gabel-esque growl really adds to the delivery and gives the songs great character – add this to the fact that they’re insanely catchy and you’ll be singing along in no time. This EP is available as a free download from Kind of Like records but they have an album album called Don’t Need Much coming out in a couple of weeks on Household Name that features all the tracks on this EP, so maybe pick that up instead.