Record Label: Red Leader
Genre: Indie Pop
Band Link: link
Buy on Amazon.com link

My colleague Daniel Field will be pleased to know that Scream Hello took his advice and dropped the “!” from their name. I agreed with Dan about the unnecessary punctuation (I mean, seriously, LOL WTF OMGPON1ES), and I also agree with him about their sound. We cynical old rockers want to hate it for its punchy emo-tinged feel-good pop punk, but darn it if it isn’t good!

There are four songs on here; two are well-constructed upbeat, melodic confections that I would blast while driving with the windows down, if I had a car and a place to go. Guitars that sing and buzz, a tight rhythm section, great use of indie and pop inflections, and vocals that are more wistful than whiny. The last track is also pretty good like that, but it’s over six minutes long – exactly three minutes longer than any good pop song needs to be.

But they royally fuck up on “rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr” – not only a retardo title (bringing to mind the exclamation mark fiasco), but an inexcusable three-minute piano ballad. Guys, your EP title is “Smart & Stupid.” Smart is ROCKING OUT. Stupid is THREE-MINUTE PIANO BALLAD. Learn that shit.

Bottom Line:
Notable Tracks:
Overall Rating: