Another Year on the Streets

Volume 2 (Vagrant)
by Scott Hefflon

Something here for everyone into indie rock. There’s the “kiddiemo” stuff (that’s “kiddie” and “emo” jammed together to waste as little precious time on this crap as possible, but you can call it “whiny, yelpy pussy shit” if you want, it’s ok…) with darling little boys whose balls have yet to drop singing about love’n’shit, their lil voices straining to hit the high notes all earnestly, all the while the rest of the band simplifies riffs and beats they heard on the radio when they were growing up (uh, a couple years ago), but there’s also a few good college rock bands (oh, there’s a big difference, kids) on Vagrant that redeem them somewhat from putting out Saves the Day, one of “those” bands that make Def Leppard and Bon Jovi seem pretty cool in comparison. Hell, at least those pretty boy posers could write a decent song and actually hit the notes they set out for. (Look it up, they’re called “boy bands.” They come in glam, dance pop, pop punk, aggro-rock, and emo flavors. Count the songs, count the photo shoots, see where the priorities lie.)

So Another Year on the Streets Volume 2 is pretty easy to summarize, and everyone knows which side of the fence they’re on anyway, so why don’t I just point to the fence, rattle off names, and we can all program the half of the CD we like and make fun of the dopes on the other half. Good bands with something interesting going on: The Anniversary, Hey Mercedes, Alkaline Trio, and No Motiv. Bands to poke fun at (or poke with sharp sticks), but honestly, try to encourage them to, ya know, hit the books a little harder and stop sucking so badly cuz while they may fool young kids, those kids’ll grown up, feel cheated, and track them down and beat their mop-topped heads in: Hot Rod Circuit, Audio Learning Center, Dashboard Confessional, The New Amsterdams, and The Get Up Kids. There’s also a kinda repetitive track by Viva Death, who are kinda tuff singalong, but not especially interesting, Rocket From the Crypt who rock ass with horns’n’balls, but most kids probably don’t even know they should like them. Oh, and Face to Face grunts through a couple more heavy-handed, gruffly-melodic punk tunes cuz their management owns the label or whatever. Most bands get two tracks, and Alkaline Trio’s second is an unreleased cover of Berlin’s “Metro.” See, that’s why those guys rule! They didn’t cover The Smiths or The Cure or Elvis Costello (much less name their band after a song; sorry, couldn’t resist), they dug deeper, took the road less traveled, and that’s the kinda stuff that the rest of these trendy come-latelies are just too shallow to do. Well, and Alkaline Trio are good…
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