Tugboat Annie
The Space Around You
Big Top
Ten solid and cohesive love songs… not all of them happy love songs. Starting with a pure pop blast on “Stop,” Tugboat Annie go for the heart. It’s not wimpy stuff though, all the hooks are tight enough to catch you on a spin and pull you back for more. The choruses make you move, the lyrics make you sing. It touches on that emo world guitar drive at times, but barely. Perhaps somewhere between the Get Up Kids and Possum Dixon’s later offerings, these guys enjoy sticking to a pogo inspiring energetic punk pop beat (except for the occasional slide into mellow melancholy… like on “Helen Of Troy”). These songs stick together in one perfect December-time valentine.
Big Top, 955 Massachusetts Ave, PMB 115, Cambridge, MA 02139, http://www.bigtoprecords.com