Corner Boys - Waiting For 2020

Sometimes all you can say is "Wow!". Corner Boys have been one of my favorite current bands since I came across their most excellent demo two years ago. Since then, they've already released two fantastic 7-inches and now a full-length album. The quality of those singles really set a high bar for the album. Anything less than an absolutely stunning debut LP would probably have been a letdown. So how did Corner Boys approach that challenge? They went out and made a record that's even better the singles! The album of the year conversation just got real!

Out on Drunken Sailor Records, Waiting For 2020 is absolutely the hook-laden, pogo-worthy collection of poppy punk hits I was hoping for. Again Corner Boys put a modern twist on the classic sounds of Good Vibrations Records, the seminal punk/powerpop of Pointed Sticks, and the snotty punk rock of The Simpletones. But beyond that, this is an album that seems tailor made for the tenor of our times. From the album title to the cover art to lyrics favoring horror and social commentary (which, at this point, are basically the same thing), this just feels like the record we need to be listening to in 2019. This album makes feeling bad feel oh so good! It kicks off with "Norman" - a toe-tapping ode to MIT's psychopath robot. "Spit At You" is either the angriest poppy song or poppiest angry song I've heard in ages. "Waiting For 2020" is the feelgood apocalyptic anthem we've all been waiting for. Inspired by the cult flick Dead and Buried, "Don't Come Back" will have you gleefully singing along as you contemplate unimaginable horrors. While Corner Boys may be the closest thing out there to a modern-day Undertones, they are not exactly writing songs about chocolate and girls!

With so many killer tunes in their existing body of work, Corner Boys couldn't have been blamed for wanting to re-record a few of them for Waiting For 2020. But besides "Joke of the Neighborhood" (which had to be included!), this debut album is made entirely of new material. And that material is strong! The likes of "Norman" and "(I'm Such A) Mess" would have made fine singles in their own right. You just won't find ten catchier songs anywhere. Waiting For 2020 is the best of punk rock and power pop mashed together perfectly and dished out with a contagious enthusiasm. Clearly this is a band with something meaningful to say. Yet they get their message across in an engaging and immensely fun way. If this is the latest punk rock soundtrack to the real-life dystopia of 2019, at least it's one that ought to have you humming memorable melodies and pogoing to your heart's content. LP releases Friday on Drunken Sailor. Order here!

  
-L.R.

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