Starting to get a little tired of all the emo-pop-punkers and humorless anarcho-punks? Listen up, I’ve found your new favorite band.

The Unsacred Hearts are punk from another generation. They know it too—take a look at the lyrics to 1978. Their music is mostly mid-tempo, with a healthy dose of sarcasm and overall happy vibe. Not the false, bouncy kind of happy. But they obviously enjoy making music, and it’s enjoyable to listen to.

Most of the songs fall under the two minute mark and are comfortably mid-tempo. A fitting length for most of them, but ironically enough the album’s two longest songs, "1978" (3:13) and "We Were A Band" (3:16) are also the best. Vocalist Joe Willie sounds almost like a higher pitched Joe Strummer with a New York accent.

"We Were a Band" tells a story of a high school band and its demise (“The bass player was the first to go, he hopped on a flight to Hollywood...”) It possesses a quality that pops up in a lot of the EP’s songs. A subtle, catchy chorus that ingrains itself in your brain and just might get you singing. Be warned.

The only criticism I can give is that while the Unsacred Hearts overall sound is pretty unique with influences that fall all over the spectrum, (mind you, most of them probably had their hay day before you and me were born) some of the individual songs lack a strong identity.

But that’s nitpicking. Fans of any genre that has “Punk” in it should dig this, and the rest of you need to at least give "Stuck Inside a Mobile Home With The Mansion Blues Again" or "We Were A Band" a listen.



Label: Serious Business Records
Release: 2004

Track Listing:

01. I Was Raised to Be Polite and Kind
02. Stuck Inside a Mobile Home With the Mansion Blues Again
03. Heart of the City
04. 1978
05. Secret Dakota Ring/ No Chance
06. We Were a Band
07. Plug Me In

Rating:



Review by: Lyndie