Four Songs by Stay Sharp could have been a really, really, good hardcore record.  Instead, it’s just pretty ok.  I don’t know what it is, because on the surface, they have everything it takes to be a great band.  They’re loud, fast and from Philly, where almost all my favorite bands are from.  Most of these songs could have been a long lost Kid Dynamite recording but there’s just something about it that doesn’t click.  Even after listening to it a few times, Four Songs just didn’t move me at all.  I’m not saying it’s bad, because it’s not.  I’m sure these guys slay shit on stage, but the album just doesn’t really have that spark I was looking for.

Check out the Cheap Girls review after the jump.

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The self-released White Flags And Silver Spoons Have To Sleep In Separate Rooms, by Fort Lauderdale’s Alexander is the complete package. Meaning, they have combined all the best parts of various indie rock bands I’ve heard over the years. Even with all those influences together, they create music that still sounds unique. I’d definitely put this as one of the best indie rock records I’ve heard in a long time.

The boys of Static Radio have finally unleashed their debut longplayer, An Evening Of Bad Decisions, on Black Numbers records. I’m gonna admit that this band took a bit to grow on me initially. After a few listens though, the band’s brand of Kid Dynamite-influenced hardcore punk stuck with me. Since their first EP, One For The Good Guys, they’ve refined their sound a bit, letting melody infuse, even sometimes replace, the straight-up thrash found on the EP. Bad Decisions is not a mind shattering record, but it is filled with good, straight-up punk rock. Static Radio are not concerned with others’ expectations of what punk and hardcore should sound like. They know want they want to do with it and that’s clear on this album. 

I should forward this by saying that I’m picky when it comes to indie rock. That being said, Now That We’re Alive by Ohio’s Annabel isn’t that bad. At least not as bad as I thought it was after a first listen. My inital beef with the vocals subsided over time. The musicianship on Alive is pretty top-notch though. It’s not a Pelican or Agoraphobic Nosebleed record for sure, but it has a nice, easy-going rock feel to it. I can definitely see this being a good summer party record, where bitter old punks like me hang, with some beer and fireworks in tow.

Like some people and Jesus, I have a close personal relationship with Death Cab For Cutie. With an almost eerie sense of timing, they’ve managed to release the perfect album for any number of critical points in my, and many of my peers, adolescence. The Photo Album (Barsuk) was one of the first non-radio albums I “discovered.” Transatlanticism (Barsuk) got worn out on my first car’s shitty CD player.  Plans (Atlantic) was the only thing that relieved the homesickness of my freshman year of college. Basically, I will love this band until Ben Gibbard starts singing about the ironic fallibility of Depends and how his grandkids never come visit him anymore. However, despite the utterly inappropriate journalistic bias, Narrow Stairs (Atlantic) doesn’t quite live up to the standard of work the band has previously put out.

More after the jump.

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