0JuneReviews1

Get Awkward
Be Your Own Pet
Ecstatic Peace Records

When speaking of sophomore records the
word “mature” can be viewed as a death
sentence implying that you have alienated
your original audience. Fortunately, this is not
the case for Nashville’s Be Your Own Pet.
Their second release on Ecstatic Peace
Records Get Awkward is nothing less than
mature. Yes, in a good way. These barely legal
punkers from the country music capital of the
world have grown out of their training pants
and have realized that punk is more than fast,
thrashy chords. B.Y.O.P. have not pulled a 180
on us though. Songs like the album’s opener
“Super Soaked”, “Kelly’s Affair”, and “What’
s Your Damage” bring images of vocalist
Jemina Pearl having induced seizures on
stage. The tracks similar to “You’re A Waste”
may throw old fans off a bit with their slow
momentum, however, Pearl and company were
barely 16 when they wrote most of the songs
on their 2005, self-titled debut. This is the
most obvious evolution, but don’t expect a
slew of softie pop songs just yet, they still
have quite a few tricks up their sleeve. The
rabid, 1-minute frenzy that is “Food Fight” and
a love song about eating brains, “Zombie
Graveyard” shake things up nicely. Get
Awkward is the perfect litmus test. The next
time you have your guy or girl over, throw this
shit on and they better find it fucking sexy. If
they don’t, eat their fucking brains!

The Sincerities EP
The Method To My Medium
Thriving Records

I’m still trying to understand what ‘method’ or
even what ‘medium’ The Method to My
Medium is attepting. It’s not quite clear,
considering that they come off sounding more
like a reincarnation of A Simple Plan circa
2002, with vocals that are just a tad higher
pitched than that of Plan’s vocalist Pierre
Bouvier. Maybe that’s what bands in
Bloomington, Indiana do.
Formed in 2006, A Method to My Medium
consist of three Indiana University and 2
members of former band Blame It on Rio. This
10 song EP consists of 7 actual songs and
second versions of the tracks “The New
Chapter”, “Melodies and Metaphors”, and
“Move Real Slow” and marks their debut on
Thriving Records. ‘Sincerities’ was recorded
in NYC over the course of a few weeks while
on break from school. The Sincerities EP is a
formatted rendition of what usually works.
Hooky clean guitar riffs, polished pretty
vocals with the occasional vocal echo thrown
in for good measure. It’s pretty, it works and it’
s over done. Sincerities is an unfortunate
debut, most debuts take risk and makes
people pay attention to something that is off
the grid. Not until a band’s third or fourth
album does a band get typical. Method just
takes the method that works and works into
the ground. If this is as much as they are
willing to risk they are deeply in trouble. If I
wanted to hear A Simple Plan I would listen to
A Simple Plan. Stay in school kids.

It’s A Process…
The Junior Revolution
Self Released

The word ‘experimental’ gets thrown around a
lot when describing music. Bands are using
the word to escape being referred to as ‘Emo’
or ‘punk’, like any other band that plays faster
than the current radio gods (i.e. Panic! At the
Disco and Fall Out Boy). The Junior
Revolution doesn’t exactly fall perfectly into
that category. They’re not as ‘experiential’ as
Sonic Youth, nor quite as out there as the now-
defunct Atlanta band, Moros Eros, but they’re
still in the ballpark…about two-thirds in.
‘It’s A Process…’ is the debut release from the
Cincinnati band that is, as of yet, unsigned.
The tracks themselves fit together only
because they are so different. “Klondike
Scare” and other tracks similar to it are
unpredictable and nothing short of hooky.
“Calmer Than You Are” is a nice break in the
middle of the record, mixing Drum & Bass
techno with keyboards and a voice over by a
Flight Attendant reading instructions. The mix
could take any old school “Alternative” fan
back to Radiohead’s “Fitter Happier” before
dropping them into the thumping baseline of
the track “Manic D”. “Manic D” keeps your
attention from start to finish, as does “Cut Us
Down”, a nostalgic track with a piano back.
This unsigned act will not remain that very
long. If acts like Idiot Pilot can get major- label
deals, a deal of some kind is surely in the
future for this Revolution.