Discount

Crash Diagnostic (New American Dream)
by Scott Hefflon

The kids seem to really love Discount, and while I can name a half dozen bands that do it better, these guys’n’gal ain’t bad. Part peppy punkpop with cool start/stop breakdowns, part, ya know, lo-fi indie noodling (useless musician show-off shit if you ask me, but you didn’t), Crash Diagnostic scrapes enough off the iceberg to keep a pitcher of refreshing iced tea cool, and hell, if that’s all ya want, drink up. Trouble is, perspective. Which is why the easily-impressible are thrilled. Co-ed, Tilt, and others can knock out the punkpop stuff as well or better, and rockers like Pat Benetar and Tina Turner can dance circles around Discount power-wise and arrangement-wise, and if they’re trying to compete with Tori and her followers, well, let’s not even start, huh? See, the thing is, Discount tries to be all things, and each genre they tinker in has kings and queens, and they’ve simply stepped through the front gate. And people applaud? Shit, don’t ask much outta yer music, do you? I’ll certainly admit Discount has strengths and some good writing, but my negativity comes from the fact that many think them poppy/experimentalist heroes already, when they’ve actually only started on the long road to being great. Some of their tunes pass the time quiet nicely (“Math Won’t Miss You” is my fave, but the obvious written-for-radio singles are “Broken to Blue” and “Hit”), but I’ll take Bif Naked any day (and any way I can get her).
(www.discounttheband.com)
www.newamericandream.com