Arm the poor – American Youth
I really dig Arm the poor. They’re the kind of band I’d happily listen to on repeat. And, even though I’m not sold on all the rhetoric they share, I admit, a very similar mindset to my teenage self and political opinions not much different from the ones I embraced. Have I grown cynical, I hear you ask? No, just amused by very simple solutions to complicated problems.
While the band’s name resembles a phrase that might be inscribed on one of Tom Morello’s guitars, the band’s sound itself is much more fun than the name might suggest. They are fast, power-chord loving, but also ska-enthusiasts who, deep down inside, really just want things to be good for everyone, especially America’s marginalized youth.
Gang chorus vocals shouting “America!”, are accompanied by a solid rhythm section, a riff that sounds as if it has been donated from El Hefe itself and enthusiasm that is, no doubt, contagious.
Heavy Lag – Dirt Pop
Heavy Lag seem like friends who’ve crashed the party and drank all the beer in the first hour of being there. Similarly, their sound is incredibly excited, silly, and it goes well with a jig.
Dirt Pop is pub rock for the punk fateful. It’s a melodic-punk tune on which the drummer seems to have been ill-informed about just how potent the speed he was taking was going to be. The hooks and ear-pleasing melodies are there, but it’s just difficult to make them out as the band blitz as if they’re looking to cross every red light in town.
And, still, this New York punk band also sounds like your dream first band. They’re the kind of high-energy, low-maintenance group that you could actually boast about having played with. Heavy Lag don’t make as much sense when listening to their music while stuck in a small room, but they’ll mean the world to many in a live setting.
