Various

Playing 4 Square (2000)

Scott Heisel

Kudos to Suburban Home, Negative Progression, My, and Drive Thru Records for realizing that a 4-label comp is almost assuredly better than 1. Now, onto the bands:

Gamits - Good, good poppy punk. Reminds me of Green Day mixed with a little more emotion in the vocals. They get a thumbs up.
Nobodys - Why do people like this band? The vocals are nauseating. It's
like he's trying to sing as off-key and nasally as possible. Pass.
Fairlanes - I dunno. It's not bad pop-punk, but this song doesn't make me want to get their album.
Oblivion - The late great Oblivion. This is a track off their last CD and
is a catchy sing-along number. If you never got to see them live, you
missed out.
F.Y.P. - Snotty, indeed. Only 47 seconds long, too, so it's over before
you realize how shitty it sounds.
Homeless Wonders - I dig this, it reminds me for some reason of the punkier Suicide Machines stuff. It's abrasive but not too much, I like it.
Spread - I know this band is from Japan and this is from their split CD
with the Teen Idols [who rule]. I have absolutely NO idea if they're singing in English or Japanese, but it's catchy irregardless.
Apocalypse Hoboken - Blech.
Decay - Your typical angry punk rock with screamy vocals. Not bad, not
great either.
Bounder - I reviewed this CD a while ago, and I stick by my original
assessment - boring.
Gob - A nice cover of Mr. Sandman, with a little Metallica thrown in for
good measure. Daddy like.
Over It - They get 2 songs on here and with good reason - it's good shit. Very similar to Saves the Day but a little more punky. Check them out before they're huge.
Bracket - I hate Bracket.
Adventures of Jet - Nice and poppy, kind of a wacky keyboard part going on. Why have I not heard of these guys before?
Lagwagon - It's Lagwagon. We all should know what this sounds like.
Nerf Herder - This band used to be a lot slower than this, I thought. It's
still unmemorable at best. Stick to your 30-second song, that's hilarious.
Popsicko - For me, this song reminds me a bit of The Stereo -- it's got
that crunchy guitar attack and really nice vocal harmonies. It's a bit
heavier than most of The Stereo's repertoire, though.
The Ataris - It seems like everyone and their mothers love this band. I
can see why, it's catchy, emotional punk, but it's not *too* overdone.
Armchair Martian - This just ended and I can't even remember it.
Me First & The Gimme Gimmes - Another cover, this time of "Rich Girl." I
cannot remember for the life of me who originally sings it, but Spike and
Co. do a fine job.
A New Found Glory - A New Found Suckage is more like it.
Midtown - These guys are a huge guilty pleasure of mine. Honest and
sincere "emo" rock.
Rx Bandits - It's amazing that this is the first ska band on the CD. It
took 25 tracks to get one! Wacky. Anyways, I think that the old Rx
Bandits stuff [while they were under the name The Pharmaceutical Bandits] was better, their new stuff seems like theirs horns are a burden. I dunno.
Allister - Very good pop-punk, I've always had a soft-spot for these guys. Two great songs off their debut CD, check them out if you need a dose of pop-punk injected back into your life.
Caught Inside - Cock rock meets punk rock, with not-so-good results.

Well, no label really came out shining in this effort, but that might be
because I seem to be a little too old for this stuff nowadays. If you were trying to get your little brother or an uninitiated friend into punk, this comp would suffice -- it covers most of the bases, from Drive Thru's sugary-sweet rock to Suburban Home's gritty punk. Plus, it's a cheapo comp, and even though there are no unreleased tracks, it's hard to go wrong with 28 songs for under 5 dollars.

[taken from A different kind of greatness webzine]null