REVIEW – Football, etc. – "First Down"

Man, I am so clever. Posting a review for a band called Football, etc. on Super Bowl weekend. Also, totally fucking up the review schedule I set. Anyway.

See, There was a time when the word “emo” did not bring to mind pictures of kids with swoop haircuts, lip piercings, and unfortunate day-glo tees. Back in the mid to late 90s, the 2nd wave of emo produced a rather impressive series of records. I mean, we are talking about big bands like Friction, Braid, Cap’n Jazz, American Football, Mineral, Rainer Maria, Camber, Texas Is The Reason, The Promise Ring, Sunny Day Real Estate and the first few releases by The Get Up Kids (to name a few). Yeah, this was what music taxonomy nerds would call “post-emo indie rock,” but my point remains.

Hailing from Houston Texas, Football, etc. put out this EP in July 2009, but they sound like they could have been contemporaries to the above listed bands. While this was just a four song demo, it had the touchstones of that (seemingly forgotten) sound. You have the twinkly guitars, the somewhat subdued vocals, and sincerity that most fucking “emo” records are missing these days. Lindsay Minton has a great vocal performance on here. Perfect voice for this type of music.

I am not going to fuck around with a track by track analysis or anything. It is a four song EP, and it is fantastic. They have a full length coming out in March via Count Your Lucky Stars Records. This EP is available for download at a few places (donation based/free), but I guess the actual physical release is out of print.

More or less, if you are a fan of that 2nd wave emo sound, check this out. It will not disappoint. I am not going to give it a x out of 5 star rating, because I decided I do not want to do that anymore.

Official Download via Bandcamp
Official Download If You Make It
Steam some stuff via Myspace