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Fans of the Lawrence Arms' Brendan Kelly are virtually gaura

01/10/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you are a fan of the Lawrence Arms, in specific, the raspy Brendan Kelly (formerly of Slapstick, Broadways), then you are going to enjoy this very short, but addictive set of five songs. They are catchy, raspy, pop-punk songs, and practically indistinguishable from any previous Brendan Kelly Lawrence Arms tracks.

And therein lies my one complaint- there is no experimentation going on here- it is the same formula as the Lawrence Arms, albeit with different bandmates. I love the Lawrence Arms, and love this short ep, but honestly, creating a "side project" that is virtually identical to your regular band makes little to no sense.

(Basically, Brendan seems to have just wanted to make his own cd, separate from Chris, where he sings everything)."

Excellent punk in the vien of Lawrence Arms/Alkaline Trio

Destroy Boy | www.ohboydestroy.com | 12/28/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Here's a fun side band from the singer/bassist and the drummer from The Lawrence Arms, the

singer/bassist from Alkaline Trio and a dude from Rise Against. It's an extremely short EP,

clocking in with just five short songs but what great songs they are. For a starting point, they

sound similar to the punkier, harder edged songs The Lawrence Arms writes half the time (not

the Jawbreaker type emo ones) but with a bit more experimentation and some small elements

of Alkaline Trio. To give you an idea, on a couple of these cuts you can hear liberal use of

Spanish themed acoustic guitar mixed in with the trademark galloping distorted guitars and

drums used by Alkaline Trio. This sounds like mixing oil and water but it's really catchy.



The vocals are all handled by the guy from The Lawrence Arms which really suits the music more

than the more emo singer from Alkaline Trio. In terms of delivery, he has really perfected the

high-register, slightly screamo, almost unintelligible, double layered sound he has been

dabbling with on the last The Lawrence Arms record (listen to the song "On With The Show" if you

want to know what I'm talking about). I can see not everyone appreciating this but over the last

several years I think he's gone from a cheap wannabe cockney accent to a very distinctive sound

that's totally unique.



Seeing that this sucker only has five songs I'll wrap this review up but it's safe to say that if you've

liked the direction The Lawrence Arms have been going in and appreciate the punkier songs

sung by the scratchy throated guy then you will really dig this short but sweet record.



Check out more reivews at ohboydestroy."