Super Sometimes
Show The World What’s Underneath
Wow, this is a throwback! Not Super Sometimes themselves; they’ve not been around for long and this debut full-length that’s not just repackaged loosies. Rather, they have a very 2010s pop-punk feel to them, when the genre was top dog and right on the cusp of cannibalising itself. At least it’s handy that the current shortage of competition (esteemed or otherwise) makes the prospect of yet another pop-punk band manageable.
Show The World What’s Underneath undoubtedly benefits most from being clear of the glut. Its lack of uniqueness isn’t as heavy a lodestone when Super Sometimes are on their own, and the distance does well for an overall refreshed feel. This is sharper and more buoyant, not unlike what you’d find among State Champs’ catalogue or the better end of modern New Found Glory. Co-vocalists Gabriel Muñoz and Dylan Guzman even have textbook Pop-Punk Voice to match, and the Californicated demeanour typical of youthful angst and break-up songs of this stripe.
The crispness of songs like Afterthought and Spend is where Super Sometimes get the most mileage from. Not only are they inherent catchier for it, but there’s a nice weight, too, free of anything too scrubbed-clean or sanded-down. The exception is Common Sense, coated in a shimmer that blanks pretty much everything worthwhile that Super Sometimes establish. A concession of this magnitude isn’t needed for a pop lean, not when the sunny twang of Always You does just fine, or even just the band’s base form. Show The World What’s Underneath already doesn’t put a foot wrong when it comes to how accessible it is.
That’s not an indication of this spearheading the next world-conquering wave, but it puts Super Sometimes among pop-punk’s better newcomers. With simplicity that works in their favour and a strong, extensive clutch of hooks at their disposal, they know what this genre is good at, at least. And that can be enough for this sort of breakthrough. The mould isn’t even being looked at accusingly, let alone broken, but nevertheless, Super Sometimes are bolting forth through sheer love of the game.
For fans of: State Champs, New Found Glory, Knuckle Puck
‘Show The World What’s Underneath’ by Super Sometimes is out now on Pure Noise Records.
CQ Wrestling
Resistance
Let’s just address the discrepancy first—yes, this is the same band as Chappaqua Wrestling; no, the name change doesn’t appear to have much great significance behind it. Apparently it’s to represent a new era and musical evolution, so…sure. Resistance isn’t so different from their debut Plus Ultra that an entire rebrand was required, though. Perhaps it spills over the edges of their indie frame more readily—a bit post-punk here; a bit shoegaze there; a bit Britpop elsewhere—but that’s just…what progressing with your music is, no?
Either way, perhaps there’s an onus on Resistance to seem more special than it is. CQ Wrestling’s range of ideas, while broad, doesn’t necessarily manifest into stone-cold stunners. More common, therefore, is an album that’s pretty and melodically satisfying, without having that deeper penetration needed. At best, HEALTH+ stands out thanks to its hard, unfriendly bass and a looser grip on vocal form, and the closing pair Guns In The Hands and Soft Top shows some tendencies towards cavernous Britpop revivalism.
Resistance is also seldom bad, thanks to CQ Wrestling’s ear for clear production colour and direction. There’s just something missing, ultimately, that’d give a kick that, with each repeated spin, feels more necessary. For an album inspired by the sheer overwhelm of modern life and the apparently part-and-parcel injustices that come with it (so much so that the album is literally called ‘resistance’), there could be a bit more to sharply embody that. It is there, just not at the level that’d give CQ Wrestling their—pardon the pun—fight. Oh well; maybe next time when they’re called CQW or something, they’ll get it.
For fans of: Ride, DIIV, Wolf Alice
‘Resistance’ by CQ Wresting is released on 22nd May on Truth Records.
Dan Byrne
This Is Where The Show Begins
The key tell for what this is is that it’s released on Frontiers, the home of music blissfully unaware that the medium has evolved in the last half-century. Dan Byrne is, therefore, One Of These. Despite only being 28, the portrayal he leans towards is a badass, hell-raising, classic rock ‘n’ roll man with a proclivity for the sort of witchy women who only seem to exist in songs like these. Thus, it all sounds like, again, One Of These.
Though, that doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. It’s limited, sure, without a single, solitary idea of its own, but this particular helping of classic butt-rock is no more stricken by that than any other. If nothing else, Byrne’s goliath oversinging does infuse some additional effort that’s not always possible to find. It turns a song like Sober into a hunk of air-grabbing power-ballad candyfloss, the antithesis of probing art but entertaining nonetheless. Conversely, the bleeding-heart earnestness of Temple that sees Byrne’s natural Scouse accent slip out is a mood-killer of the highest order. It’s like if Danny Worsnop shifted from cowboy LARPing to singing about steel production mid-song.
As for the music, it’s nothing special but it tends to get the job done. It’s hard rock that’s been sleekened somewhat to fit the times; there’s no radical new spin on it. It’s only noteworthy when it’s bad, like the grunting breezeblocks passing as a riff on Cherry & Leather. That’s a rarer occurrence, though; often, Byrne and his band can, at the very least, pull out something workable. Memorable is a different story, but when Byrne is here to take up every spare molecule of oxygen himself, you can almost forgive it.
The main takeaway with This Is Where The Show Begins is, ultimately, if it’s as comfortable a fit in this sound as possible, it’s probably safe for Byrne to take a crack at. Anything too adventurous yields something like Temple, lyrically way outside of our frontman’s pay-grade. Strong, simple rock songs, though? Yeah, that’s fine; Byrne can do those all day long. It’s hard to imagine much overwhelming success coming from something as straight as this is, but if you’re so inclined towards this stuff, it won’t put you off. It’s alright, basically.
For fans of: Danny Worsnop, Those Damn Crows, Scarlet Rebels
‘This Is Where The Show Begins’ by Dan Byrne is released on 22nd May on Frontiers Music.
Words by Luke Nuttall
