Review Summary: Encompassing vintage emo songwriting into a fresh new package while crafting fun, upbeat songs with an enamoring sense of honesty.
3 of 4 thought this review was well written
There are a select few records in my collection that I can always count on to produce an unbridled sense of nostalgia; a classic to turn to when in need of some youthful energy, that little rush of euphoria when singing along with your favorite group-chorus, or that story to remind us of when life was much simpler. Emo and pop-punk are genres that heavily rely on this sense of nostalgia. The subject matter is often adolescent with accompanying art composed of old photos, buildings, or group shots filtered through your choice of Instagram effects. Sports is a record that encompasses these vintage feelings into a fresh new package, crafting fun, upbeat songs with an enamoring sense of honesty.
Modern Baseball are part of a rising emo scene in the New Jersey/Philadelphia area. While there seems to be a growing popularity in twinkly emo, pigeonholing Modern Baseball into any one genre would be difficult with their dynamic songwriting. With a run-time of 30 minutes, the record at times feels like a catchy pop-punk album with fast chords, drums and sing-a-long anthems. Choruses like the one on "See Ya Sucker" just beg to be sung along to:
"On the corner of Canal and Broadway,
Where that huge sign says 'Love me'
Shrouded in grafitti and the stench of weed"
What differentiates them from similar bands is their ability to write extremely heartfelt and relatable songs with an almost indie-rock twist. Three songs run less than two minutes and are mostly acoustic, telling tales of young love and loss while employing guest female vocals on "I Think You Were In My Profile Picture Once" with resounding success. Social media references pop up sporadically and while slightly off-putting can add to the genuineness it possesses. Standout track "Cooke" starts with a slow, scaled back drum beat filled with groovy ghost-notes on the snare. The airy, twinkly guitars interplay with the nasally singing of the vocalist to culminate into a perfect contrast to the archetypal emo buildup. The high-pitched singing of the lead vocalist may be polarizing, but I believe most will find it fitting with the other youthful and endearing qualities of the record.
Sports tells stories of situations that we've all been in. Themes include growing up, leaving home, the foresight and ability to change, and of course, tween love. While this may seem like familiar territory, it's their ability to mix such a variety of sounds, influences and emotions that makes this record so special. As a young band with obvious potential for greatness, their most magnetic quality is that they simply seem to have fun. They write about the things they know and they jam the tunes they want to play without any attention to genre standards. The end product is cathartic, relatable, and insanely catchy.
AtomicWaste Contributing Reviewer February 27th 2013
1624 Comments
when singing along with your favorite
Don't use "your" here - you have an established first person tense at the start and end of this sentence and using "your" shifts it to second person and mucks it all up.
The subject matter is often adolescent
I know what you're shooting for, but this is an awkward phrasing. "The subject of such bands' material is usually adolescence with album art displaying..." etc. would work much better.
encompasses these vintage feelings into
Things can't be "encompassed into," but you can say something like "Sports is a fresh new package that encompasses..."
While there seems to be a growing popularity in twinkly emo, pigeonholing Modern Baseball into any one genre would be difficult with their dynamic songwriting.
This sentence isn't attrocious, but it's disjointed. You go from saying "There's a growing popularity in twinkly emo" to saying that it's hard to pigeonhole Modern Baseball into any genre. You've already referred to them as an emo band and therefore pigeonholed them against your own advice, even if you haven't slapped a subgenre onto them. But, really, there's no point in mentioning "twinkly emo" if you're just going to say THAT'S NOT APPLICABLE TO THIS BAND.
the record at times feels like a catchy
commas around "at times" (i.e. "record, at times, feels...")
AtomicWaste Contributing Reviewer February 27th 2013
1624 Comments
What differentiates them
It's generally bad practice to begin a paragraph by referring to your subject with a pronoun (i.e. "them"), or at least, following a quote and a paragraph that doesn't deal very directly with the band, it's a little disconnecting for your audience. I'd just go ahead and say Modern Baseball in this situation. I guess this isn't a huge issue, but it stuck out to me.
pop up sporadically and while slightly off-putting can add
Need commas around "while slightly off-putting."
nasally singing
You can just say "nasal singing"
culminate into
Can't "culminate into," you can only "culminate in." (so use "culminate in" instead)
find it fitting with the other youthful and endearing qualities of the record.
Again, a more minor tweak, but if you find it "fitting," a better phrasing would be "find it fitting on such a youthful and endearing record." I guess the "with...qualities" stuff just seems excessive to me.
Themes include
"Its themes include"
it's their ability
Again, it's been a while since you've mentioned Modern Baseball, so the "their" is sort of ambiguous here.
A pretty good first review, man. Nice job, and I'd like to see more from you in the future.
Here are a few tips I've got. I hope they help!
"There are a select few records in my collection that I can always count on to produce an unbridled sense of nostalgia; a classic to turn to when in need of some youthful energy, that little rush of euphoria when singing along with your favorite group-chorus, or that story to remind us of when life was much simpler."
The semi-colon here isn't used properly. I'd drop it, and use a comma. And if you feel the sentence is too long after that, you could always reword it.
"Sports is a record that encompasses these vintage feelings into a fresh new package, crafting fun, upbeat songs with an enamoring sense of honesty."
When describing an album, it pays to be as apt as possible. So instead of two descriptors, just use one that works well. This applies here, in that you can just use 'upbeat' instead of adding 'fun.'
"group shots filtered through your choice of Instagram effects."
This is a good idea, but the way you word it almost sounds derogatory. Instead of name-dropping Instagram, I'd go with 'retro camera shots,' or something like that.
"The high-pitched singing of the lead vocalist may be polarizing, but I believe most will find it fitting with the other youthful and endearing qualities of the record."
You can always afford to take out qualifiers like 'may,' because they weaken overall points. Also, instead of describing what people will feel, you could describe the album more directly. Maybe you could end this phrase like this: "is polarizing, but it fits well with the record's sense of youth."
