STEINWAYS, THE: Gorilla Marketing: CD
The Steinways are funny, for two reasons. The first is literally speaking, as every time I see them I'm usually cracking up by the end of their set. The other is when their first full length came out a while back, it had some really great pop punk songs on it, in between a bunch of songs that were basically three chords, one quick lyric, and done in about five seconds. Since then, it felt like a bunch of people gave them shit, saying "Yer songs are good! Keep writing songs longer then like, five seconds!" and so this time around the quick songs are gone (they're all at least a minute now), and it feels much more consistent. Musically speaking, it's not too different, as they remain a band who's clearly heavily influenced by all the classic Lookout!, Mutant Pop, and so forth trademark pop punk, but without just being another (insert-another-band-here)-core rip off. It helps that there's a very Off With Their Heads-esque "I'm broke/hate my life right now" theme to a bunch of the songs, as well as the fact that they don't take anything TOO seriously (including taking what would normally be some bands throwaway/"jokey" song like "Sweatpants", and making it a legitimately fucking great song). In hindsight, it's getting to the point where reading this will take longer than listening to the a-side, so I'll just end with this; The "I've got a five dollar bill and a coupon for two/lets go to Boston Market so I can show you how much I love you" line fucking KILLS me every time. Awesome. –Joe Evans III

TEAM STRAY: Gender Studies: CD
I'd heard this band mentioned amongst some friends of mine, and could've sworn what I heard was straight forward pop punk, heavy on the whooooa's, so that's what I figured this would be like. Instead, it's a hair-faster than mid-tempo power pop, kind of in the vein of The Plus Ones or Weezer (especially in the vocals at times) that's a bit rougher around the edges. It's not bad, and I'd probably pull it out on a cloudy day. –Joe Evans III