Another Year On The Streets: Volume 2
Vagrant Records
Sometimes, listening to Vagrant Records releases is like meeting a beautiful woman that you’re totally into, but always having something nagging at you in the back of your mind that something isn’t quite right about the situation.

Vagrant has a great roster of bands that are true diamonds in the rough, having signed six of the biggest independent bands around in recent years, as well as signing tried and true artists like Rocket From The Crypt and Paul Westerberg. Yup, that Paul Westerberg. Nutty, huh? All player hating aside, this is a great comp with a bunch of great, mostly unreleased songs by great bands. You can’t ask for much more that that. It hasn’t changed my mind about a lot of the artists either way: Alkaline Trio still great, Dashboard Confessional still shitty, but there is the first good New Amsterdams track, so new doors are being opened. Funny anecdote in the New Amsterdams song referencing someone whose favorite Replacements record is All Shook Down. With the advent of Westerberg signing to Vagrant, I think we’re going see the annoying trend of emo kids morphing into huge Mats fans and saying that ASD was their best record like all the new school kids love Jawbreaker’s Dear You. This is why I have little faith in the young people of today. Ominous harbingers aside, Another Year: Volume 2 is well worth picking up off the street.

Garrison
Be A Criminal
Revelation Records
Garrison are a pretty decent band that has gotten better with every record. This time around they got J. Robbins in the producer’s chair to give Be A Criminal a big rock sound. That’s good, as they’ve finally been able to capture the dynamics of their live show for the first time. While these kids are from Boston, they seem to be pretty fond of the Kansas City sound ala Kill Creek and Get Up Kids. They also kind of remind me of a harder Hot Rot Circuit at times. If you like those bands, this might be worth checking out. This is at least three records in for the boys and I get the impression that if these boys don’t blow up soon grad school beckons, so check them out before it’s too late.

Edison Woods
self-titled
Endearing Records
The first release by Julia Frodahl and Edison Woods, at the risk of being overly literal, is a lot like walking through a snowy wood in the twilight. As you move deeper into the forest, the darkness around you makes everything hazy and indistinct. Voices and sound fade in and out on gossamer wings, initially making you ill at ease but ultimately becoming strangely comforting. The darkness and quiet cease to be threatening, becoming more and more a cloak that you wrap yourself in, embracing the insular comfort it provides. You are outside and away, yet inside and safe in the womblike warmth of the wood. Eventually, you near your destination. In doing so, everything becomes sharper and more distinct but somewhat less satisfying in its tangibility.

Edison Woods are reminiscent of the pastoral work of Low and Ida. They are quiet and unassuming to the point that I’m tempted to write their name in lower case letters a la ee cummings. Don’t pass them by because of their modesty, they are that much more compelling in their unobtrusive inscrutability.

Bad Religion
Process Of Belief
Epitaph Records
Unless you live under a rock that doesn’t have internet access, you are probably aware that Process Of Belief marks the return of Mr. Brett back to the Bad Religion fold. So maybe he got a new drug problem, was pissed that BR moved to Atlantic, and had to hack off all the dead wood back at the Epitaph offices. A guy needs some time to himself. If you like your punk rock done by smart guys, come on home to Bad Religion. I’m not sure whether I like the punk rock or the vocabulary more. Now that I think about it, it’s the fact that they write great songs and use big words to do it. No pedantic hardcore proselytizing here, there are some hooks up in this motherfucker. I’m intrigued to see how the Iron Maiden-esque three guitar lineup works out live, but if you’ve got Mr. Brett, Greg Hetson and Brian Fucking Baker in the same band, there’s no weak link in the chain. You can also bet your vinyl copy of Into The Unknown that if the Dag Nasty reunion takes off, we’ll see Brian take a walk. (ha!, a walk, get it?) Either way, buy the record and go see them this summer. There’s no possible way it could be disappointing.

As Friends Rust
Won
Doghouse Records
I really dig this fucking record. Despite the obvious Avail fixation, these boys kick some major tail. I believe they are from the core mecca of Gainesville, which seems like a hell of a good town to fingerpoint and yell Go! in. Works for me. Great breakdowns, lots of who-oh’s and great song titles like "We On Some Next Level Shit" and "This Is Me Hating You". This is me loving it. Come up North soon!

Detachment Kit
They Raging. Quiet Army
Self Starter Foundation
The Detachment Kit are from Chicago and sound like it. They do the quiet/loud thing pretty well and have a nice sense of arrangement that separates them from the masses. Despite it’s silly title, which is no doubt some allusion I’m out of the loop on, They Raging sounds pretty good, no doubt to their recording at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio. Detachment Kit sound like they should be on Polyvinyl. They’d be good on a bill with fellow Midwesterners Shiner. The guitar are loud ands wiry, and they’ve got pretty good singing despite the fact that the guy sounds at times like the idiot from Dashboard Confessional. A more positive comparison might be Garrison or the Ivory Coast. Either way, I’m pretty bummed that I missed out on them when they came through town last. Not the best record that had come out this year, but a grower and a strong effort worth picking up.

Alkaline Trio/Hot Water Music
Split
Jade Tree Records
The split EP has been a hip thing to do recently. BYO had kicked things off a couple years ago with their split with Hot Water and Leatherface and it’s been gangbusters ever since. This is a coup and a half for the good folk of Jade Tree as you’d be hard pressed to find too many bands that have as rabid a following as the Hot Water Music and the Alkaline Trio. The principle this time around is a couple new songs each and then the boys covering each other. Cool idea, and as they toured together on the Plea For Peace tour this past summer, they got a lot of time to get to know each other (and no doubt consume Herculean amounts of alcohol in the process). Chicago’s Alkaline Trio weigh in with two new Matt songs, one of which Queen Of Pain, is one of their best yet. They cover HWM’s Rooftops adequately, but Gainesville’s finest really clean up on their covers of A3s Radio and Bleeder. I would have like to have heard a Danny song, too. The new Hot Water stuff is more reminiscent of their pre-Epitaph stuff, which is to say pretty damn smoking. If you like contemporary punk, you should pretty much already have this. If you don’t, gather up some empties from your coffee table and pick this up post-haste.