YEAR END! – Top Twenty EPs / Splits Of 2013

epgrid

Nobody, Ever – “This Wall Is Dedicated To Liam And His Mates”
All Dogs – “All Dogs”
The Island Of Misfit Toys – “Furiouser & Furiouser”
Adobe Homes / Innards – “Split”
These Branches – “Beliefs”
Best Practices – Sore Subjects
Late Night Beers – “Waking”
Lemuria – “Brilliant Dancer”
Dads – “Pretty Good”
Football, etc / Plaids – “Split”
Perfect Future – “Irrational, Malleable, Inevitable”
Sunday Guts – “Leave It Go”
Graves. – “We Could Stand Here, SIlent And Still”
Tyler Daniel Bean – “Everything You Do Scares Me”
Young Turks – “Where I Rise”
Self Defense Family – “You Are Beneath Her”
Abi Reimold / Infinity Crush – “Wish It Stopped (split)”
Iron Chic – “Spooky Action”
Dikembe / Pet Symmetry – “Split”
Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate) / Malegoat – “Split”

REVIEW: Best Practices – "Sore Subjects"

Goddamn. I was waiting for more music from Best Practices. Sore Subjects is a follow up to The EP LP from last year. Everything that worked on that record is back in force here. Basically, this EP knocks is out of the park again.

With Will Killingsworth at the production helm again, the band has put together another solid record. Best Practices still play a hodge podge of pop punk, hardcore, and whatever else they feel like throwing in. What is notable about these new songs is how the band is giving them room to play out. Where every song on The EP LP was around two minutes or under, two of the four songs on this are actually longer than three minutes. I mean, it is still four quick songs, clocking in at about 11 minutes, but there is a little breathing room.

This is really a pretty natural progression for the band. It still has that low-fi production that made their previous effort sound so good. It is still the weird post-hardcore guitar lines thrown in with a poppy veneer. The vocals are still rough, but fantastic. There is just a few more colors added to the palette. Like the acoustic guitar intro bit on “Home For Halloween.”

Honestly, everything I said about this band when I reviewed The EP LP still holds true. Fuck whatever else your doing right now. Go listen to this.

Best Practices
BandCamp
Tor Johnson Records
Buy It

(updated 5/12/13 with label/buy it information)

YEAR END! – Top Ten Records Of The Year

Here are the best records of the year. Not much label diversity here, but that is just how it goes sometimes.

1) Joie De Vivre – We’re All Better Than This (Count Your Lucky Stars)

2) Dowsing – It’s Still Pretty Terrible (Count Your Lucky Stars)

3) Dikembe – Broad Shoulders (Tiny Engines)

4) Dads – American Radass (this is important) (Flannel Gurl)

5) State Faults – Desolate Peaks (Tiny Engines)

6) Best Practices – The EP LP (Tiny Engines)

7) Suis La Lune – Riala (Topshelf)

8) You Blew It! – Grow Up, Dude (Topshelf)

9) Beach House – Bloom (Sub Pop)

10) The Dandelion War – We Were Always Loyal To Lost Causes (Deep Elm)

REVIEW: Best Practices – The EP LP

Punk rock gets stagnant sometimes. When it does, something has to comes out of left fucking field. This is one of those records. This is a strange brew of pop punk, screamo, and hardcore. And, by god, it works like a charm.

Collectively, Best Practices are a solid fucking band. In it there are members of Weak Teeth and former members of Light The Fuse And Run, Jesuscentric, and Wow, Owls!. Add the fact that this was recorded by Will Killingsworth (from Orchid and Ampere), and you have the recipe for a great record.

Nine songs rip through in about 12 minutes. The vocals sound straight out of a hardcore record, but the music stays securely in a poppy, if not slightly jagged and angular, place. I honestly don’t really know how to explain this record. It is a short and fast pop punk record that is all hopped up on screamo energy. While things can get a bit crazy, there are great hooks all over this thing. This is one of the best punk record I’ve heard this year. Kudos, Best Practices.

Best Practice
Tiny Engines
Teeth Like Swords
Buy It (LP)
Buy It (cassette)
Stream It