Home Grown
Kings Of Pop
Drive-Thru
Whoa, Nellie! Kings Of Pop will go down as one of the year’s best all around records, I am completely sure of it! Wow-eee! This record is completely wonderful emo pop, in the vein of Blink-182, New Found Glory, Ultimate Fakebook, or Jimmy Eat World. Strangely enough, though, Kings Of Pop is, by far, better than the recent releases from those bands, or any other emo pop outfit, for that matter.
Home Grown’s music is kind of like cotton candy: there’s not really much substance, but the taste is unbelievably wonderful and once I start with it, I can’t put it down! When I put this in, I listened to it four times in a row, and I was crapping down my leg! After I cleaned myself up, I looked at the press info that came with the CD, and it says that Home Grown’s last record, Act Your Age, sold over 100,000 copies; that’s pretty darn remarkable for an indie punk band, but I can understand why.
The album’s first song, “Tomorrow,” sets the tone for the entire record quite well: fast, up tempo guitars and drums, very melodic guitar lines, harmonious vocals that reminded me of The Get-Up Kids’ main singer (a little bit), and lyrical content about lost love. The record follows that basic formula throughout, with occasional breakdowns, palm-muted guitars, arty guitar noodle parts, and other emo pop tricks.
I’m guessing that these guys will end up being pretty big, if any of their songs get airtime on radio stations, and rightfully so. Blink-182, as we all know, is really half-assed pop punk, and if those guys deserve to be millionaires, then Home Grown should be billionaires! These guys are on the Warped Tour this summer, so check them out, before they get huge… but I thought Jawbox would be huge, too, so go figure!
Drive-Thru Records: http://www.drivethrurecords.com
