Sleepercar - West Texas

It would be impossible to put context to Sleepercar’s debut album West Texas without mentioning At The Drive-In. Regardless of how much lead singer Jim Ward would probably like his new project to viewed as something entirely separate from his past endeavors, he will forever live in the shadow of the mess the world has come to regard as “ATDI.” This inability to step out from underneath the shadow that his former band has cast upon his career is truly a shame; Sleepercar is something completely separate and all together sonically different, from At The Drive In, who in this writer’s humble opinion, have become quite the overrated band. (This review, however, is not the place for this analysis.) In fact, Sleepercar carries little traces of Ward’s more recent effort, Sparta, and stands entirely on its own. In fact, the only song on the album that sounds close to anything recorded on Wiretap Scars is “Sound the Alarm” due to guitar structure and not to the song as a whole. However, without both At The Drive-In and Sparta, Sleepercar would not have come to be.
West Texas consists of songs written by Ward as early as his days in At The Drive-In and became a more focused project of his during Sparta’s final tour but never a part of Sparta; with one listen to album’s opener, “A Broken Promise,” and it is easy to understand why. The opening chords chug like a train out of your speakers, or headphones if you prefer, and the drums beat in order to tap your feet.
Sleepercar is, all things considered, a country band, in the same vein as Lucero and the Old 97’s. And unlike the numerous “alt-country” acts who have sprung up recently, Sleepercar doesn’t wink their eye at the crowd as if to say, “Hey, we know it’s not cool to play real country music, that’s why we’re alternative country.” No, West Texas is what country music has become like to a generation who seems to think that “country” music is a bunch of red-necks with too many beers in their stomach and not enough sense in their heads. In fact, country music isn’t country music any more; it has gone the way of other once credible genres and become filled with over the top “artists” who forgot a main component of making music, at least to most people, was songwriting. I’m looking at you, Toby Keith and Taylor Swift.
However, none of this is to say that Sleepercar is going to save country music, or that West Texas is the record that could bring credibility back to country music to those cynical individuals who think country is unhip (and nobody finds things “unhip” unless they are, self-decidedly, hip themselves). In fact, the album is somewhat unimpressive coming from a man who once was in a band that is now worshipped by thousands of skinny boys who weren’t even around to experience the band when it existed. What I am trying to say is that Sleepercar could be something quite impressive with a bit more fine-tuning and a better marketing strategy. Opening for such mammoth acts as Coldplay could have been a shoe-in for Jim Ward to skyrocket into real stardom but with a lackluster stage show and a couple of stellar songs surrounded by a handful that leave something to be desired, the band remains within its quiet niche of Midwestern college radio rather than a national success.
Perhaps Jim Ward should take some lessons from Chris Martin, who in St Paul, Minnesota, as I’m sure he did everywhere his multi-platinum band preformed, made the stage his playground to accompany the kingdom he built by his ability to write songs that make you fucking weep like a baby. Maybe then Sleepercar would become a household name, but probably not.

(Note: Yes, I do find Coldplay to be the only major label, multi-platinum super-group to be credible despite their associate with frat-boys and sorority girls. They write inexplicably beautiful songs that I would have played at my wedding if I were straight and thought marriage was a good idea.)

Release Date: April 22nd, 2008
Record Label: Doghouse
Stand Out Tracks: A Broken Promise, Wednesday Nights, Stumble In

Have Heart - Songs To Scream At The Sun

Boston, Massachusetts’ favored sons, Have Heart have found themselves in an usual position for such a young band; in a life-span that is comparable to that of a child, they have been able to build a following that is nothing short of fanatical. It seems that in a post-Champion world, individuals in the hardcore scene have found something that they can pump their fists to once again without shame or worry.
With enough passion and fury as an anti-war protest, Have Heart are a band that encompasses everything about the scene that individuals fell in love with when they became too angry for weepy shoegazing and too smart for ironic metalcore gimmicks. Because Have Heart is irrevocably pissed off and they make no qualms or excuses for it. However, unlike other bands plaguing both the backwaters and mainstreams of music, they aren’t about to let it get the best of them. From their Think Fast! Records debut EP to their debut full-length They Things We Carry on Bridge Nine, Have Heart have maintained a sound and image that is increasingly imitated by never quite emulated.
Songs To Scream At The Sun is a stunning sophomore effort exceeding their previous releases, both in musicianship and impact. Taking a slightly different approach to their signature sound, Have Heart come into their own with this album. Like a lion, the record opens with minute-long “The Same Son,” and barrels straight into what can, arguably, be said to be their crowning achievement. Based upon lead singer Pat Flynn’s realization that his grandfather (who was previously commended highly in the band’s song “The Unbreakable”) was not the man he believed him to be, “Bostons” is an epic song of praise and promise. Flynn is able to express his love for both his hometown and his father while simultaneously revoking the admiration he once felt for his grandfather in a single song containing such lyrics as, “And in this city you once knew as hell is a garden where I enjoy myself. And in this father I hardly know was a son who took back what the bottle stole.”
However, Songs To Scream At Sun does not give way to any easy outs– rather it builds upon the momentum its second track provides the record with and steamrolls on, covering subjects such as touring (“Pave Paradise”), desperation (“The Taste Of the Floor”), and, surprisingly, love (“On The Bird In The Cage”). While none of these topics are strangers to the hardcore community, Have Heart delivers them in a manner that allows them to appear, and appeal, fresh, and furiously, to the ears. It could be for these reasons that have Heart has become something of a phenomenon to behold; they are the same as the rest of us: angry and beaten down but not about to let the world get the best of them. No, there just aren’t enough bands like them around today.

Release Date: July 8th, 2008
Record Label: Bridge Nine
Stand Out Tracks: Bostons, On The Bird In The Cage, Hard Bark On The Family Tree