I never really gave the band Lydia the time of day. Their albums were always favorably reviewed on the sites I frequented, but when I attempted to listen, I always found the band a little too melodramatic (which is a hilarious thing for an emo kid to say).
Regardless, Mindy White – the female vocalist in Lydia – joined forces with two gents from Copeland to form States. On a whim, I decided to give the band a shot today. The result is actually pretty captivating. The music is dark and swelling and the vocals are top notch. Their newest release, Line ‘Em Up, is only six songs, but it packs an awful lot of substance in just over 22 minutes.
Because they’re queens of a similar scene, I’m sure the band will garner comparisons to Paramore – but White lacks the bite of Hayley Williams. Her style is more catered toward the delicate moments.
Thought I’d update everyone on a couple different bands that I’ve been hyping in the past.
Spontaneo I recently did a post about these guys – and yesterday I got their debut album For Those Who Can Whistle in the mail from Modern Short Stories. The kind folks at MSS also included another CD at no charge (Justin Oliver‘s For Rose) – I thought Steve was just trying to butter me up until I found out that others who had pre-ordered the Spontaneo CD also got the extra surprise. That’s pretty damn cool.
OK, so onto the important stuff – you know all those over-the-top pop rock, quasi-emo bands like Every Avenue or Mayday Parade? This Spontaneo album sounds nothing like that. It’s infectious but not obnoxious. You won’t feel embarrassed to listen to Spontaneo because they write intelligent songs that are influenced as much by ’50s doo-wop as they are by Fall Out Boy. Kudos to Spontaneo for making one hell of a summer album. I’m going to keep this one in the car for a long time.
And one more thing – the band just released a video for “Bad Weather” – check it out!
pinsky You know, of all the bands I’ve had the opportunity to post about on this blog, I think Pinsky still might be my favorite. There’s just something about this band that kills me. Right now they’re starting to record a brand new album for Fall ’10 release, which I couldn’t be more excited about. They also just launched a new website that you should visit. If you register your email address (I assume that means that you’re signing up for the band’s mailing list as well), you get access to some exclusive tunes and extra content. So do that. I hear they’re also accepting recipes (yeah, like… actual food recipes) for your favorite drunken concoctions.
I build these guys up a lot – I think its because at the end of the day, they’re writing songs that I wish I had written. There’s a perfect mesh of big splashy chords and sing-along choruses. It walks that line of old-school emo and full-on punk rock so well. I’m hoping after they release this album, they’ll all pile into a shitty van and start touring the country for a long time. They’re too good to be stuck playing local gigs in Maine. If you haven’t checked these guys out – this is what you’re missing out on:
Daily Riffage 