Discontent Reviews

REVIEWS

 Ethan's Reviews     MySpace.com  

THE DISCONTENT – 4 Tracks - www.myspace.com/thediscontent

Punk is in sorry shape. To me, punk was always about attitude, not sound, and its current torchbearers just never seem to quite “get it.” Yeah, early Blink-182 got the sound down right, but their snottiness could never compare to anything that say, (to pick a band at random) The Vandals, could have turned out at any given point in their career. The great thing about punk though is that its very nature creates a large underground that keeps it fresh and engaging. From where I stand, New Jersey’s Discontent, despite some industry experience, should consider themselves members of that proud tradition.

Their sound is a seamless blend of pop and punk, and recalls the best parts of most of the movements within punk of the last thirty years. Their dirty-as-hell production frames the sound nicely, and their vocal harmonies ring true. Emo without the whiny bullshit, these guys are obviously not fucking around.

I was really surprised when I found out where they come from, because these guys don’t sound like they are from New Jersey . They recall the bands of Minneapolis, like The Replacements or even the best moments of Soul Asylum, far more than any other geographic markers.

The band shines in all four of their clips, but I would like to note a few things about each track. First of all, their cover of The Beatles “She Said She Said,” apparently released as a tribute to the 25^th anniversary to the death of John Lennon. I have to give a ton of respect to anyone who can cover The Beatles and mean it, particularly mid-era Beatles. It’s just as simple as that. They take the song and play the shit out of it, and don’t stop till it’s done. Taking the Beatles to the garage is always a tricky (if obvious) proposition, and they succeed.

“Dying Breath” is where theMinneapolis thing is most audible. The bass wanders along while the guitars rollick. The harmonies on the chorus are perfect. The lyrics are earnest without ever getting silly. In the mouth of a lesser vocalist than Jesse this would not be true.

“Disintegration” is not quite as strong as the others, but they can’t all be perfect. The lyrics are a little repetitive, but good. Musicianship is tight as ever.

I was really worried the first time I heard the beginning of “Bulletproof.” The opening is a little cheesy, but it’s that cheese that makes pop work as well as it does, and they don’t drag it out too long. The rest of the song alleviated my worries. After the first five or so seconds the urge to dance silly to it is nearly overwhelming.

The final assessment is that these four songs are the perfect soundtrack to sweaty drunken fucking in the bathroom of a nasty club. It is absolutely criminal that these guys are not five times more famous than they are, and proof that God does not love us. They’ve obviously been around for awhile, seeing as they ended up on some obscure industry top ten list back in 2001. The only explanation that I can think of is that they may be too retro for their own good. But such is the way of the musical world. Provided that they don’t self-destruct or call it quits prematurely these guys should be ginormous any minute now, and I’m not sure why they aren’t already.

5/5 stars Ethan's Reviews

...Ethan Larsen/http://www.myspace.com/ethansmusicreviews  

THE DISCONTENT  "No Laughing Matter"

FROM THE RELEASE: Rock'n'Raw EP

LABEL: Sha-La 

PRODUCED BY:  Ben Elliott 

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: This Jersey three-piece has been around since 1995, creating a solid fanbase through almost constant touring and consistent specialty show radio airplay. Their latest offering, Rock'n'Raw EP, has already spent many weeks on the VA Fairly Underground chart (with major support from stations like WBCN, KTEG and WARQ among others) and "No Laughing Matter" is an excellent track that's seemingly perfect to fill that night slot you have open right now. Your P1s that like THA RAWK will be requesting this one, for sure.   

…VirtuallyAlternative  

THE DISCONTENT  "Drain"