The front cover on this thing plays up the whole east coast/west coast angle by highlighting LA and DC in bold letters, but the bands are actually from northern Virginia, Maryland, Brea, and Norwalk - which isn't exactly Washington, DC and Los Angeles, but fuck it. The point is made. Latchkey begins with four tracks of melodic punk rock with a few slight hardcore influences, but it's not generic. There are a lot of variations in riffing from slightly quirky west coast sounding crossover runs to slower chord progressions - all the while with driving basslines and vocals that are right in between singing and shouting. They're not bad, and the recording is good (I'd mix the vocals back a bit), but the songs are a little boring... I don't know, I think they should play faster and with more energy. I like their style, it just feels a little bland in these songs. Walk Proud is up next with five tracks of catchy punk rock with nice vocals that are pretty pissed off and almost remind me of early Agnostic Front or something. The tracks aren't really that melodic or anything, but there is a good drive to the rhythms and tempos, and there's a good dose of rock 'n' roll in there as well. Their recording is a little raw, but I'm not really bothered by it. It sort of sounds like a better than average demo in some ways. The Homeowners drop seven tracks of melodic punk rock with a lot of rock influence and some fucking amazing throaty vocal tradeoffs that give the songs a lot of attitude and energy, as well as a slight street punk sort of edge. Some of the tracks have a little bit more of an abrasive or jarring side, but the straightforward tracks just fucking rock. Bullet Treatment closes it out with eight tracks that never top two minutes - more rocked out punk with a hint of melody and throaty vocals, but this time with consistently faster tempos, some quick lead breaks, etc. The songs get to the point and can get pretty catchy, but it never loses its pissed off edge. The recording is probably the most consistent of the bunch as well, still rough around the edges, but well mixed. I'm not really fond of the packaging here because the cover art is cheesy and just not very tasteful in my opinion, and the inner spread is pretty skimpy as far as containing band lineups and contact information but that's about all there is to it. It's clean and does have a professional level of quality, I just don't find the visuals appealing. As a collection it's not bad, but it's really Bullet Treatment and especially The Homeowners that run the show here. The other two bands are on the right path but just don't do it for me. It's interesting that in my opinion all of these bands sound like west coast bands, so I assume those types of influences are at work for Latchkey and The Homeowners on the east side as well. I'd love to hear more from The Homeowners for sure, but as a finicky punk fan this doesn't hold me down for a full 55 minutes.
[Basement]
Running time - 55:33, Tracks: 24
[Notable tracks: Episode IV, One More Time, Camo Van, Damnation, Scars, Something Bad]
Basement Records - http://www.basementrecords.net
