Here are 2 reviews from now-wave...checkitout....
The first review is from a reviewer who originally didnt like the record......after a prompt payment of payola he WROTE A NEW REVIEW....pretty cool actually.....the album grows like an infection in the minds of the listener.
REVIEW #1
High Tension Wires
Send A Message
(Dirtnap Records)
(REVIEW BY LORD RUTLEDGE)
Awesome debut from members of Marked Men, Reds, and Riverboat Gamblers
Damn, I blow. I am an asshole, an idiot, a moron, a jackass, a peckerhead, a fucknugget, a dickcheese, a scumbucket, a dildo, a dipstick, a dumb-ass, a twat, a bastard, a schmuckball, a shit-eater, a turdlicker, a jerkoff, a retard, a scrotum-face, a dung-cuddler, an uber-prick, a baloney-beating buttbrain, a double-dutch douche bag. I sniff vomit. I suck donkey dick. I sleep with midgets. Seriously, what in the hell is wrong with me? What could have possibly possessed me to pan one of the best punk albums of the year? What in the hell was I THINKING?!!!!
Was I temporarily insane? Was I smoking something? Did I get drunk one night and browbeat my poolboy Javier into writing the review for me? Did a pack of gnomes sneak into my house at 3:00 AM and secretly dub demos from Richard Marx: The Punk Years onto my HTW disc? I hereby renounce my previous assessment of Send A Message and offer in its place a full-on ringing endorsement. I'm here to retract, to repent, to set the record straight.
Fuck...forget everything I said before about the High Tension Wires. Especially that part about there being no great songs on this album. Good god! "Gillette Napoleon" and "Smile and Lie" will both make my year-end list of the best songs of 2005. "Get You" and "I Heart Mao Inhibitors" aren't far behind. And even if Send A Message isn't quite as awesome as either Marked Men album, it's at least in the ballpark. This Austin supergroup does the poppy '77 punk thing with energy and style, busting loose in the manner of previous sub-genre standouts like the FM Knives, Clorox Girls, Briefs, and (Duh!) Marked Men. Buzzcockian leads and Ramones-y riffs abound, and the vocals remind me slightly of the Dickies' Leonard Graves Phillips. Overall, the record radiates an upbeat, invigorating feel. Every tune is fast, catchy, fun, and over before you know what hit ya. Half the songs fail to break the two-minute barrier, and all ten of 'em zip by in just 18 minutes. This is the stuff: no grand ambitions or pretense of musical sophistication---just an amphetamine sprint of buzzing guitars and ringing melodies. It's not rocket science, but then again, the best punk rock never is. The High Tension Wires keep it simple and just let it fly, and I swear I enjoy this album more and more with each repeated listen.
That's my final answer, Regis. ---Lord Rutledge, opinionated asshole
July 6, 2005
REVIEW #2
I love this album. I must say that along with the Real Losers LP, it is my most listened-to album of this year. For a month or so, I’ve been listening to this album around two or three times a day. Why? I don't know, it isn't special... but it is fuckin’ good. Probably the reasons are: it still has a Rip Off punk feelin’, it's very short (just 10 songs…and six or so are just around 1:30 m), it’s very easy to listen to, and the songs are very good.
Probably the second Marked Men album is better, but I prefer this album…easier to listen to and more punk, still has a pop feelin’ but less. It's more ’77 punk. Like a mix between the first Marked Men album and the second. Along with the first Briefs, Exploding Hearts, and Minds albums, this is one of the best Dirtnap releases... and that means that it is one of the best punk albums of the last few years. I love it.
---Raul Reaction
July 26, 2005