Labels: Los Diaper – Mandible
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Traffic & Weather is folks from the late and lamented Gibbons, and they appear to have got off to a flying start with their songs on this split LP. Melodic punk bands are tuppence a dozen, yet T&W manage to do something really fresh with the sound on their songs. The vocals are typically raw and rough, as is the endearingly fuzzy production, yet on each song the guitars are freewheeling and wild, in a fashion more in common with emo than Dillinger Four. It doesn’t always work, “Avenues” is a bit under-cooked for example, but once it’s resolved they go flying into they dynamite “Ultra Salmon”. The driving, ringing guitars on “Hope Dies Last” hit the sweet spot for me – galloping with energy, combining Leatherface and something else that I just can’t quite put my finger on. Safe to say, this is a great start and I look forward to hearing more from these dudes.
Red & Blue are very standard pop punk, but that’s not really a knock. They are rough and ready, sloppy, slightly nerdy sounding guys singing a bit and playing their instruments fairly fast. It’s pretty catchy all told, but doesn’t seem to have the hook that lures me in to a band of this kind for some reason. Sorry guys! Still, they are not a dead loss and the fact that you get Traffic & Weather on the other side still makes this LP more than worth checking out.