Usually when a band makes the effort to self-release a really professional looking full-length, it's because the sound contained within is just really marketable and crappy. So when I received what looked to be quite a pro-looking release by a band called the Starting Point, I expected the worst. Is that what makes It's Something You Learn one of the more surprising releases of the year? Maybe. Or perhaps it's just a really solid hardcore album that usually lets the music speak for itself.

This ten-song disc flies by in less than 20 minutes, yet in that span, the Starting Point prove to be much more than your average hardcore tykes. Call it beginner's luck, but for what they're doing, It's Something You Learn is quite the creative effort. The band has an inherent willingness to mix things up, with a definite sense of Boy Sets Fire's fiery dynamicism. Tracks like "Action Reaction" contain the little things that definitely help separate TSP from the rest of the pack with a quick, upbeat-sounding stereo separated guitar lead, while standout "Let It Take You Home" has a modest but strong vocal hook of "I watch the kids keep running!," and even momentarily breaks into a mid-tempoed segue of light guitar picking and rhythmic clapping stomp. Lead singer Brad Wiseman's voice is somewhat mumbled and garbled throughout the course of the record, but it keeps up with the speeds and changing tempos well.

While a bit disjointed, underdeveloped, and awfully short, the Starting Point's It's Something You Learn contains a world of promise. You rarely find bands toying around this much with a brand of otherwise straight-forward hardcore, let alone this early in their career, but the Starting Point.definitely achieve this feat with their first full-length.

MP3
Boy Meets World

STREAM
Action Reaction
Since the Third