Atticus

Dragging the Lake (Side One Dummy)
by Scott Hefflon

Blink 182 members Mark Hoppus and Tom Delonge, owner of Atticus clothing, give back to the scene that spawned them by releasing Dragging the Lake, the first in a series of inexpensive comps featuring tons of unreleased tracks by hotshot punkpop and emopunk bands and showcasing some up-and-comers. If you follow this kinda stuff, most of these names are the ones you’ve seen on other comps and on the covers of magazines, but most of these are unreleased tracks (which is kinda cool when it clicks, and kinda obvious why these tracks never saw the light of day when it doesn’t), so as an introduction, it might be misleading, but it’s a nice addition for pretty serious music fans and completists. And let’s face it, fuck the casual listener. This ain’t the Now That’s What I Call Music of punk and emo, all these bands have been working at it for years, and all’ll be around for years more (for better or worse).

Of the 24 tracks here (totaling 74 minutes, so you really get your money’s worth), even the slick punkpop stuff is (mostly) the better stuff, and as a way to get more attention for Box Car Racer (featuring Tom and Travis from Blink 182), Bad Astronaut (featuring members of Lagwagon), Sugarcult, and Alkaline Trio, I’m ok with skipping over tracks by New Found Glory, The Starting Line, Glassjaw, and all the other popular kiddie hacks I think are whiney little pussies. Others caught in the net: Finch, The Movielife, Auto Pilot Off, Avoid One Thing, Midtown, Rival Schools, Madcap, American Nightmare, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Simple Plan, Name Taken, The Used, Agent 51, Slick Shoes, Kut U Up, Jimmy Eat World.
(PO Box 2350 Los Angeles, CA 90078)