Candy Hearts are a great, female-fronted pop-punk band from New York. They are adorable.

The songs on their album Ripped Up Jeans & Silly Dreams range from good to great. The album starts off strong with catchy pop-punk numbers "What I Want" and "Blocking the Sunshine." It peaks about two-thirds of the way through, with four consecutive ridiculously catchy songs. "Without Caffeine" is one of my favorite songs of the whole year--great lyrics and hooks. "What You Want" keeps the energy high. "Punk Songs" is a sugary sweet, catchy, acoustic number. "Red Balloons" is absolutely infectious. Between the opening and the peak, though, the album slows down unnecessarily. It's never bad, but it definitely loses a bit of steam.

While these guys write way better songs than 99.9% of pop-punk bands out there, it still feels like they haven't quite found their groove yet. The best moments of this album show that they are capable of producing some of the best pop-punk of any band in existence. They're a young band, so once they find their own style and stay consistent, they will be pretty unstoppable.

In the meantime, this album is available from If You Make It on a pay-what-you-want basis. Download it, check it out and enjoy a really fun record.