Chris' Guide to Summer Music

I know what you're thinking right now: "Chris, you have such good taste in music, but there are no albums out there right now worth getting. Which CDs will be the ones that I remember this summer by?" Even if you're not thinking that (and you're probably not), here's a little preview of what new music is coming out this summer into early Fall.

Sticks and Stones (New Found Glory) -- June 11
Say what you will about NFG being too poppy, too commercialized, and looking and sounding like every other pop-punk band out there. If you look beyond the image and the screaming girls, their self-titled album was start-to-finish one the catchiest albums to come out in a long time. My expectations are so high for their new album, especially after hearing the first single "My Friends Over You", that I will probably be let down, but as long as they stay away from Blink182-ish subject matter and sing reasonably mature songs in their usual fun style I will be happy.

Cheer Up! (Reel Big Fish) -- June 25
These guys have been dormant for awhile after the followup to their breakout album Turn the Radio Off kind of fell flat. There was supposedly squabbling amongst the band over whether or not to even release this album, and I hear that once it was finished some members were not happy with how any of the songs turned out. It will be interesting to see what they've cooked up now that ska is officially dead, since most of their songs were about how sickening it was that ska was so popular.

The Underdog EP (Yellowcard) -- "Midsummer"
You probably haven't heard of Yellowcard, but their album One for the Kids is pretty big in an underground sort of way. They have a rock violin player which kind of separates them from other standard punk bands. They're on a real label now so it should be interesting to see what their first "big" release sounds like.

Yellow #5 (Mustard Plug) -- September 17
Speaking of ska being dead, Mustard Plug is still kicking around in Michigan and they even recorded a new album. Their first two albums were horrible, horrible, horrible, but their last two were great. That means this album will be good, then the cycle will repeat itself. And by then there will be no more ska.

[as yet untitled] (Zebrahead) -- "End of Summer"
Judging from the timeline of the last Zebrahead album, "end of summer" will become "end of 2002". Their last album Playmate of the Year was supposed to put them on the map for good, but it was too poppy for their old fans and never got the airplay to make the leap to the mainstream. This album is supposed to "hearken back to the early days" but will that be a return to a good sound or a step backwards?

[as yet untitled] (The Ataris) -- Early October
Again, this is the band's own preferred release date so it'll probably get pushed back until Christmas music season (November). The Ataris albums that I've heard start off really well and end with a bunch of songs that all sound the same and aren't very good. Hopefully they get over that track record with this one, since it's too early for there to be a tracklisting or sound clips.

There you have it. 6 albums to check out in the coming months. I'll probably review the ones that I get so if you want a more in-depth and accurate look at them before making a purchase then keep checking back. And by all means *Buy the album, don't just download mp3s*.