It is hard to believe, but sometimes I find myself
hard pressed for something new to listen to. Before anyone goes off the handle with things like “you work
at a record store!” or, “you have the internet!!” or “you have a phone!” keep
this in mind…We listen to music all day long, mostly music that we haven’t
heard (‘cause we all like to stay informed), and its great. It’s the bee’s knees. It’s the dog’s tuxedo (that’s a thing
right?). But, when you have so
many choices available to you, sometimes its difficult deciding on just one
CD. Long story short, this week I
have been pretty musically indecisive.
So instead of trolling the internet for what is trending right this second,
or what the current charts say, I took a chance and grabbed a CD at random out
of our listening booth selection for the month. The album was “The Constant One” by Iron Chic.
Iron Chic is a throwback pop punk/hardcore band in
the vein of Polar Bear Club, with a little Dave-Grohl-yell-singing thrown in
for good measure. You (probably) don’t
know this, but I love pop punk. I
grew up listening to bands like Operation Ivy, Rancid, Less Than Jake (yes, I
know technically ska) and eventually moved on to the pop punk/emo wave that
swept up every fourteen-year-old kid that wasn’t on a sports team like a
tsunami of loud guitars and tight pants.
Iron Chic brought me back to the summer of 2001,
when walking through the halls with my headphones blasting was the highest form
of rebellion I could achieve, without really knowing what I was rebelling
against. They are angst-y, loud,
boisterous, and seem to like to swear.
It’s been a while since I heard a band that sounded genuine in this
genre.
During the whole 2007-2009
scenester-all-time-low-four-year-strong-a-day-to-remember-warped tour craze,
none of the bands that played this type of music seemed to really mean it. A lot of them would just play pop punk
choruses with nu-metal guitar chugs and scream breakdowns. The pieces that felt “pop punk” really
just seemed like filler till they could do another breakdown to get their
crab-core stances of and shake their straightened hair around. This is not the case with Iron
Chic. Its like they somehow missed
that whole fad (to which I say kudos) and just make strait up, feel good, Long
Island pop punk.
As far as songwriting goes, Iron Chic doesn’t break
the mold, but damn they are good at what they do. There is a naiveté to their lyrics that feels at home with
the music surrounding them, but they don’t seem contrived. I believe what they are saying. That isn’t a phrase I feel like I get to say enough about
lyrical content, especially in a genre that (for a while) was overwhelmed with
songs about popping bottles, laying under the stars, and how awesome summer
was. Yes, summer was awesome, the
stars look great, and sure, everyone loves champagne, but I don’t need to hear
about any of those things from someone in painted on neon pants and a v-neck…I doubt
their credibility. I do not doubt
Iron Chic’s.
Sonically,
you couldn’t ask for a better pop punk record. The guitars are appropriately massive, the snare drum is
punchy as hell, and the vocals aren’t tuned in post-production. Sure “The Constant One” probably isn’t for
your parents. It probably isn’t for
you little brother or sister either (again, lotta swears) but if you want a
good pick me up from a band that really f***ing means it, get your frostbitten
New York hands on Iron Chic’s “The Constant One”. If you hate it, its okay, they don’t care anyway.
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