Sheesh, talk about sparing no expense! A clear-edged CD design in a handsome little digipack for a mere three songs in barely more than 12 minutes!? Equal Vision Records must have high hopes for Goodbye Tomorrow, and I can understand why from this self-titled EP. The label never ceases to amaze me in their knack for scoring quality bands of a more laidback nature, and this is no exception. I'm not really sure what banner you'd classify this music under, but it definitely has the super professional and big-sounding characteristics of the type of thing that could achieve a pretty wide degree of success, be it on the radio or through "mainstream" channels or what have you. But as usual, I'd like to point out that such a comment is not to discredit the band at all, because this isn't some cheap cookie cutter material that lacks vision or creativity at all. It's not really "emo" or whatever, and in fact the songs aren't particularly catchy or bursting with energy either. The tempos tend to be relatively midpaced, for one thing, and there's a nice balance between loud/soft dynamics, though it feels like the quieter, more somber side does tend to dominate. I don't know, whatever you want to call it the recording is amazingly well executed with a pristine mix, and I dig this stuff. It's somewhat hard to gauge what the band really has to offer in just 12 minutes, but I guess we'll see what happens next year when their debut full-length materializes.

Goodbye Tomorrow "Carouseling"

This is another one of those limited releases that's only available at the band's shows or online, so pick it up straight from the label for just $5 if you're curious:

@ Equal Vision Records

It seems that Escapist Records is shaping up to be quite a diverse label, as their last release was the straightforward metallic hardcore crunch of Changing Face, and they've followed it up with Robot Eyes' first record, "Arrêt". An uncommon move, but one that I fully respect. As opposed to anything particularly heavy or hardcore-oriented, this is actually super catchy emo kind of stuff with a few pop-punk leanings or what have you. They're certainly not trying to rewrite the book on this style, sticking with driving chord progressions and zippy melodic riffs with slightly nasally singing, but this is a very promising debut that reminds me somewhat of Fairweather's "If They Move… Kill Them", which isn't a bad jumping off point at all in my opinion. I wouldn't mind hearing some vocal harmonies to add some depth to the singing and beef up the choruses, but I very much dig the bass presence in the mix, which helps to give the material some added punch regardless of tempo, and from a songwriting standpoint these kids seem to know what they're doing. I won't be at all surprised if things start to pick up for this band down the road. Not bad.

Robot Eyes "I Don't Dress the Part"
Robot Eyes "Gamble, Gamble, Gamble, Die."

Make the grab if you're into this kind of thing, it's only $9 straight from the label:

@ Escapist Records
@ Interpunk
@ Very Distribution