Labels: self released
Review by: Andy Malcolm
They spell it Schraeder, but I spell it Schroeder because: IF THERE’S ONE THING I KNOW THEN IT IS MY FORMER NFL QUARTERBACKS. And LA Raiders / Washington Redskins / Phoenix Cardinals none the less. Oh yes.
Wowee. You know how UK pop punk bands are about 6 thousand times better than their US equivalents? Well, if bands like Sunfactor and now Jay Schraeder keep up their end of the bargain, we’ll start rocking out bands influenced by Texas Is The Reason and the Get Up Kids that sound original rather than carbon copies as seems to be the case over there. You’ve got to wonder how there are only a few bands out there doing this sort of thing in the UK, yet the ones I’ve heard just plain roll over the US try hards.
4 songs on here, and nicely varied stuff indeed. It sounds good, has quite a live feel to it, and the tunes are great. Definitely reminds of fellow UK’ ers Rydell in a way, with it’s spot on emotive vocals (heh, UK Mid Carson July style singing perhaps), and quite aggressive playing too. But the Jay’s also throw in their fair share of pretty, slow bits like Sunfactor.
First up – “Cornell”, where they do everything. This is definitely my favourite song of the 4. Tender and slow at the start, they then get a bit hardcore for the verse before flowing into the brilliant chorus. Yeah, theres some Jawbreaker and Texas Is The Reason in this one I think. Shit. It gets better each time. Especially love the cool bit near the end of the 5 minutes were it slows down then builds back up again.
It could all be downhill from there, but no no, no! “Because I Never Go Home” is a bit like the poppier TITR songs, and has another stupidly catchy chorus. “Funny Somehow” is their emo slowee, bring on the indie rock! Hee hee. Nice indeed. Finally, they kick ass on “Leaving Present” which is pop punky and Get Up Kids-ish. Some cool hardcore influences in there too. I wonder why? :o)
I’ve rambled long enough…so,
…definitely as good as the Sunfactor demo, and it’s faster too ;o) – Woo woo!