Project 208

After listening to this disc about a dozen times since I got it (which is a lot when you receive 2 or 3 records in the mail almost every day), I was flipping through the lyric booklet and I find out something very interesting. Not only is Project 208 and awesome band, but one of their members is KEITH HERNANDEZ! Keith Hernandez, former first baseman for the New York Mets! This guy was my idol when I was in forth grade. I remember someone gave me his autobiography for my birthday; I was reading it during whatever time you read in elementary school, and he was talking about all kinds of dirty stuff like smoking pot and having sex and drinking. It was nuts.

Yeah, the Keith Hernandez who was on the Mets probably isn't the same Keith Hernandez in Project 208, but come on, let me live my dream. I mean, how cool would it be to find out that your favourite band and your favourite baseball team featured the same guy? What if you were a huge Scared Straight or Ten Foot Pole fan, but you also had Scott Radinsky posters all over your walls, and then one day you found out that they were the SAME GUY? Wouldn't you be so incredibly stoked?

But I digress. Project 208 is a hardcore band from Virginia Beach, VA, who has been rocking my socks off for the past few weeks or so. I've been a witness to many of their live shows over the year and I've always been impressed, but having a disc in my hand that I can play over and over is completely different. Whereas at their shows the band just formed a backdrop for their manic singer, on the album it all comes together, revealing a group that isn't just a competent backing band; they're as loose, chaotic, and intriguing as their frontman.

The band bursts out of the gate with "In My Head," probably the best song on the disc (all too many bands save their best song for last, and often it never gets heard, but these guys know what they're doing). This band is as loose and energetic as Void, but their singer is as manic as a rabid badger but through all of this band manages to maintain an excellent sense of melody. The combination sounds strange and it is volatile; just like Void songs Project 208's music constantly seems on the verge of falling apart. However, there is some strange glue that keeps it all together, and the end result is something totally unique.

Similar to fellow Virginians Pg. 99 (though they couldn't be more different stylistically), Project 208 plays music totally from their gut, and that's something that you don't see nearly enough of these days. If you like intricately crafted, expertly produced music like Lagwagon and the Get Up Kids, stay away from this music because it will probably scare you. However, if those bands are the antithesis of your taste, Project 208 will pummel you in just the right way.

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