Aww, it's the 90s! Nostalgic flyover anthemic power pop that pulls heavily from the likes of "Bleed American" and "We Are The Only Friends We Have". Classic rock (nee Springsteen) guitar, melodic soaring keys, Jukeboxy synth, xmas bells, Arcade Fire 'ooh's and punk-informed callbacks. You know, the sort of mix that made "Sugar We're Going Down" a hit. With a sound like this, they're either from Boston or Jersey. The internets say Jersey. Hervey Okkles snorted at their name when I read it off the Get Up Kids bill. Better than you'd expect.

RIYL: The Boss (what did i tell you, it's coming back), Jimmy Eat World, Piebald, The Gaslight Anthem (groan), Coheed & Cambria, Jukebox The Ghost, Arcade Fire

try: 8, 4, 1, 9
FCC: 5

*1. ~10 sec intro. long melodic "whoa"s and tinkly keys. big anthem, big keys. soary and smooth. the killers are grimacing a little.
2. odd mix of strokesy "last night" guitar, an r&b beat (and soul backing vox), and big horns. plus, you know, queen. a lot of queen. the chorus sounds like something architecture in helsinki would pull off.
3. slow keys + violin to start. light pick-it-up hi-hat 1 min it, then full-blown at 1:30. light-touch understated pop. really smooth vox. like, a little disneyana.
*4. see: jukebox the ghost. hilarious cute poppy keys + synth and airy high 'boop's and 'ooh's. occasional rudder guitar. super-minimalist instrumentation and adorable jokey vox. it works.
5. FCC "shit" strokesy guitar, fast jungle drums and creamy-as-shit 'ooh's and 'la's. really melty and nice -- and fast. kinda yeasayer harmonies. think futures-era jimmy eat world.
6. digital sparkle intro. then: happy punky synth pop. playful playground chant. straight-ahead snare. fat trumpet synth. "whoa-oh"s.
7. arcade fire! soft swirly keys, harmonies. midtempo. super-light plucked violin, 'ooh's. callbacks. xmasy. threads of both coheed and nightmare before christmas. longish outro.
*8. anthemic rockin' 90s power pop. zooming laser synth. mumford and sons cover upbeat arcade fire, with punkier (jimmy eat world) vox. "we are born with a melody, we were children in the 90s."
*9. weird failed island rhythm vampire weekend experiment. stick percussion, scat. lots of acapellaish effects. pompy synth. the main street electrical parade does "spanish bombs". actually marvellous, if you're up for a little adventure.
10. mid-slow shakers and airy carefree vox set against retro pomp bass/piano. going for something beatlesy (the bass is basically ob-la-di ob-la-da).
11. loud & fuzzy… at first. breaks face 2/3 in with sloow piano and static. why?! (technically bleeds into next track) anyway, the verse melody line borrows too heavily from elliott smith's "the enemy is you", so, you know, boycott.
12. slow piano, plucked violin… oh fuck, it's canon in d. rapid vox. death cabby. as able as those clowns, but why bother when their "sound" beats the pants off this tripe. long outro -- fade into your mic break!