Scott Heisel

Saves The Day Daybreak This review originally ran in AP 279. Four years in the making, Saves The Day’s seventh full-length has finally arrived. With any album delayed this long, it’s hard not to feel slightly let down, as listeners will have built up the release in their own minds. As any longtime STD fan […]

La Dispute Wildlife This review originally ran in AP 280. A lot has changed in the three years since La Dispute released their debut full-length, Somewhere At The Bottom Of The River Between Vega And Altair. The Michigan quintet have found themselves at the forefront of a traditional-screamo revival no one could have predicted, and […]

Bomb The Music Industry! Vacation This review originally ran in AP 278. “The shit that you hate don’t make you special,” Bomb The Music Industry! braintrust Jeff Rosenstock howls at the climax of “The Shit That You Hate,” a six-minute drunken waltz loaded with harmonica, guitar squalls and violin crescendos. According to the record’s press […]

You think it’s hard to write an original song? Try finding a cover song that hasn’t been done before—it’s harder than you think. That’s why we bring you Under The Covers: Each week, we’ll pit two bands who have covered the same source material against one another, and it’s up to you to decide who comes out on […]

Look Mexico Real Americans Spear It EP This review originally ran in AP 280. Had Vin Diesel & Co. not put out Fast Five earlier this year, we may have never heard new Look Mexico songs. Once again taking song titles from quotes in Diesel flicks, these noodly indie rockers (now based in Austin, Texas) […]

Thrice Major/Minor This review originally ran in AP 279. Given their armor-plated resiliency to changing musical tides, the wax-and-wane of popularity and the ever-entitled youth culture which demands everything be free and given to them at once, it’s pretty safe to say that there are only three givens in life anymore: death, taxes and Thrice. […]

Four Year Strong In Some Way, Shape, Or Form. This review originally ran in AP 281. “We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again,” holler the members of Four Year Strong in a powerful gang vocal, “Rise or die trying.” That lyric, from the punky “Fairweather Fan,” has been FYS’ motto for years, as […]

The Maine Pioneer This review originally ran in AP 282. “All songs written by the Maine.” In a scene oversaturated with bands relying on mercenary co-writers to make their songs palatable, that credit in Pioneer’s liner notes is all the proof you need to know that the Maine have finally stepped into their own, channeling […]

You think it’s hard to write an original song? Try finding a cover song that hasn’t been done before—it’s harder than you think. That’s why we bring you Under The Covers: Each week, we’ll pit two bands who have covered the same source material against one another, and it’s up to you to decide who comes out on […]