Family Average: 5/7

Kali Masi thoroughbred bread midwest emo to the bone baby! Having been making music together for over six years, this is the fifth release from the group. On this album we get sights and sounds to which you would never believe! Well actually mostly sounds. That said you can create your own visuals for the music by pressing the palms of your hands into your eyes. I used to do that a lot in school. Anyway is this going to be the midwest emo track to finally break into the family’s feelings? The score above may indicate so. There is only one way to find out!

Listen along on Their Bandcamp and read on to find out:

What are they putting in the water over there in Chicago that just makes me find all these bands so damn tasty? Haha. Again, I think this genre has already lived its heyday but hey...I’m still seeing Joyce Manor hoping to get a taste of that fading surf punk so why can’t emo/angular punk keep floating on? If anyone can do it, it’s this band.

Maybe it’s because their sound and lyrics come off so fresh and new, you almost forget what year it is that you’re listening to it. It got me excited, it got me feeling something I hadn’t felt for this genre since high school when I felt that All Time Low sang the words of inner angsty teenage soul haha. “Wish I could remember things, I can’t remember anything”. Each song offered some sentiment that was just saw raw and perfect. Like fuck get me to a party in a drained out pool or something and I’d hope these kids would be playing.

Haha sorry I keep laughing I just never thought I’d hear a band in 2019 that took me back to that time in all the right ways.

5/7

Woah. A straight punch to the neck. That’s what the first 17 seconds of the opening track felt like, teasing with a few melodic guitar strings and then WHAM. These guys caught me off guard. It was forceful and full of angsty feelings. With catchy vocalizations and hooks, they seem to be toeing the line between alt/punk and that whole Midwest emo sound. Like All Time Low meets American Football...but with more screaming.

5/7

The album is full of solid head-banging and varied tracks that create a sort of mish mash approach to punk rock. It's rough but not aggressive, with catchy hooks, pounding rhythm sections and driving guitar. The gnashing, snapping, banging, and teeth-mashing of it all stuck with me the rest of the night, and I found myself head banging along. Shouting is inherent not only to the song but to the experience -- this music would be a great live show brimming with energy and pure fun. I'm not always one for punk/emo/whatever the heck this is, but when it's good, it's good.

5/7

I like this album Not quite the rough around the edges Emo that usually revs my engines. That said I can still get down to this well polished collection. The way the music is presented is balanced overall. All the little parts are mixed well letting the technical craft of the music shine right in your gosh darn face. Said it before and I will say it again. My favorite part of all Emo songs will always be the drums, and the screamed chorus. You know the kind right? Where they sound like a bunch of guys in a basement just chanting all low like. Yeah well on this album both of those pass with flying colors.

Kali Masi is a gosh darn evil genius. He can get my bloods pumping, eyes watering, and feet shuffling all in the span a four minutes. Favorite track of the album would have to be “Lunger”. I am a sucker for when an album builds from screaming to more screaming and loud noises. I guess I am just old fashioned in that way.

Not much else to say here. I just hope that miss Kate had some of the same feelings so we could go see these guys live some time soon.

6/7

Okay this really speaks to the late high school/college age me. This is something I would find myself enjoying now but I know the me of then would really dig it. It was funny, when it started out slow I was expecting something more mild cause of the album title. When it launched into the high energy drum bashing accompanied by a vocalist that’s almost just straight-up yelling, I honestly wasn’t even mad cause y’know what it sounded good. I love stuff that’s got energy like this. It’s raw, unabashed, and uninhibited. Sure sometimes it gets a little cliche but it’s those similarities between artists and listeners that help them connect. When a singer screams out their emotions, regrets and laments like that, people can find relation to those feelings. It’s that communal young adult angst and the solace in hearing other people experience it and convey it into words. And they had a lot to say with those words, there’s a lot of lyrics to each song. There’s a couple lines that stuck out to me, like “When you’ve been thrown more curves than bones / and you’ve built more walls than homes.” It’s a lot of well travelled terrain, like contemplation on past relationships with family, friends and lovers. Some with bitterness, some with wistfulness at what could have been.

With their combination of punk, emo, and rock, it’s like a more grungy All Time Low. The singer just has that youthful sound to him. It’s interesting how blues and emo both are about venting feelings and personal woes, but they both go about them differently.

While most of the tracks continue that high energy, head-banging tempo, “Ghost” takes it down a couple pegs and vies for a more subdued approach. Even when it picks up and the rest of the instruments join in, it just sounds more tame. It’s like they’ve been able to get their emotions under control. “Lunger” tries to mix the quiet with the shouty, but the contrast didn’t work well for that part.

So yeah safe to say I like the sound these guys have. I’ll probably give them another listen some time.

5/7