Posts Tagged: the starting line

2009 / 5 stars / lipona / reviews — No Comments
30
Apr 09

Pigeonholed EP (2009) by Lipona

pigeonholed ep by lipona

Lipona
Pigeonholed EP
2009, unsigned (!)
pop-punk, post-grunge
5

It’s official – EPs are killing me this year. There seems to be a trend in making an EP that’s a shorter version of a self-contained, concise full-length. EPs that are preludes or postludes for full-length albums are a thing of the past, and that isn’t any more evident than in Lipona’s Pigeonholed EP.

It’s been a while since I’ve heard good ‘pop-punk,’ but Lipona has managed to exceed that fake genre and create something that’s truer to the spirit of punk. To understand what I mean, you need to read the lyrics of these songs while listening to them. There’s an honesty to them that eclipses anything I’ve heard in a long time – and thankfully, Lipona doesn’t mince the lyrics to fit the chords. If this EP is any indication, we need to prepare ourselves for a whole new wave of punk.

“Beginning the Dynamite Era,” “Reverberations.”
myspace, last.fm
The Starting Line’s Based on a True Story, Driver F’s Chase the White Whale

Disclosure: The entire EP is being offered for free to ANYONE here. Guess where I got my copy from.

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2003 / 3 stars / reviews / yellowcard — No Comments
30
Jan 09

Ocean Avenue (2003) by Yellowcard

Ocean Avenue by Yellowcard

Yellowcard
Ocean Avenue
2003, Capitol
pop punk, alternative
3½

In interviews, lead singer Ryan Key of Yellowcard has often disputed the idea that the band is ‘pop punk’ and claims they are ‘pop rock.’ In my opinion, their debut Ocean Avenue shows Yellowcard is infinitely more ‘pop’ than they are ‘pop punk,’ but that’s beside the point.

As a debut, Ocean Avenue still stands as a testament to the various strengths and weaknesses of this band. Yellowcard would incorporate Sean Mackin’s violin more in Lights and Sounds and would later revert to a darker punk sound in Paper Walls, but their debut still hold a good mix of pop punk – one that might take itself too seriously at times but still catchy enough to listen to. As for lyrics, look to Lights and Sounds for something that isn’t boring.

“Breathing,” “Empty Apartment,” “One Year, Six Months.”
myspace, last.fm
Yellowcard’s Lights and Sounds, The Starting Line’s Based on a True Story

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2005 / 4 stars / reviews / the starting line — No Comments
9
Dec 08

Based on a True Story (2005) by The Starting Line

Genre: pop punk
Rating:
“Bedroom Talk,” “The B-List,” “Photography,” and “Stay Where I Can See You.”
myspace, last.fm
The Starting Line’s Direction, Driver F’s Chase The White Whale

As the sophomore album on The Starting Line, Based on a True Story was a marked maturation from 2002′s Say It Like You Mean It. The Starting Line hadn’t lost their penchant for upbeat pop, but the lyrics and general ambience of this album are darker than before. As the title attests, much of the lyrical matter seems to come from the personal lives of the members, making this album both an intrusion and a time capsule of where they were when it was recorded. When that knowledge is put in context with the band’s contentious history with Geffen Records at the time, it becomes even more revealing. I still find myself inexplicably drawn to this album even so many years after its release, because of how surprising a change it was from The Starting Line of old.

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