Silverstein
Short Songs

I tried with Silverstein. I have often heard good things about "Discovering The Waterfront," and what I have heard (several times) seemed like the same old stereotypical stuff, borrowing the name from the genre of Mineral and Sunny Day Real Estate, diabetic stuff that tries to be a bit less sweet and boring with some fast-paced sections that still far exceed other bands within their trend. From other albums, I didn't hear anything, and it seemed not worth it, which was not the case for their very first EP (whose tracks have been republished in the collection 18 Candles). In fact, that EP, printed in few copies back in 2000, is a great classic Emo record, influenced by Mineral and Get Up Kids, far from the stratospheric levels of the symbol bands of the Midwest sound, but still very appreciable. In short, Silverstein is among those bands of the """""""Emo"""""" (in massive quotation marks) scene that know their roots, having grown up with bands like Promise Ring and punk rock. Indeed, in the second part of this record, there are covers of Dead Kennedys, Orchid(!), Promise Ring(!!), NOFX, Descendents, and others.

The idea of a record like "Short Music For Short People" might not be the height of originality, but it turns out to be an excellent idea, a breath of fresh air, a gimmick capable of not boring for once: doing in less than a minute and a half what used to take four, compressing songs already adhering to the band's existing patterns to see what effect it has and verifying that the result is quite commendable. Tracks like "Sin & Redemption" and "World On Fire," I don't know if they're on previous records or maybe they are, but in their yawning version. In short, "Short Songs" was a great idea.