Useless Entertainment: #11 The Playing Favorites - I Remember When I Was Pretty

As you can see, there isn't much pop punk on this list. The combination of market saturation and good pop punk bands moving to a more mature sound have made it hard to find quality pop punk. If that's what you are looking for, you need this album. One of my favorite voices in music, Joey Cape, is involved so that's what initially put them on my radar. They are also on a great record label called Suburban Home Records which is where I first heard a few songs and immediately pre-ordered the vinyl. The band consists of a bunch of friends who just sat down and wrote some songs and recorded them. No label pressures or deadlines were involved. What resulted is a cohesive effort written by 4 people including Joey Cape from Lagwagon/Bad Astronaut/Me First and the Gimme Gimmes and Marko Desantis from Sugarcult. I listened to the album at work on repeat for at least a week. The songs are just so catchy and energetic. It's a breath of fresh air in a genre that is spreading itself too thin. This is further proof that anything Joey Cape touches is worth a listen.

Highlights:
Leavingtown
Good Years
Waiting

Favorite Lyrics:
“So impressed with your wallet size
She'll overlook your hollow eyes
But I'm the one who gets to hear her cry on the phone.”

“I don't mind if I get strung out,
If she picks me up when I'm down
I need someone to love
And I think I might need a drug I can put my arms around”

# posted by Steve @ 6:04 PM