Band Obsession

The Hold Steady and Jack’s Mannequin are hogging my iPod lately. Jack’s Mannequin is better than average indie-rock, pop-punk fare. Dark Blue is a great song. Most of the songs will round out a playlist nicely without being that one crappy song that stands out. However, I catch myself singing Into the Airwaves long after I stop listening.

The Hold Steady, (Boys and Girls in America) is just freaking great. It’s a total sleeper too, because on my first listen I was willing to pass it over as odd and a little too Bruce Springsteen influenced. It’s defintely deeper than that. For those of us who grew up at the tail end of the 80’s and were more heavily influenced by the rock of the 90’s, The Hold Steady feels like the band we should have been listening too in High School/College. The songs tell stories, but still come across as party anthems. Occasionally melancholy, the mood quickly changes when The Hold Steady decides to rock our faces off. Listen to the whole album at least twice before you make a judgement. Party Pit is great. For guys in their thirties, it’s what we thought our late teens early twenties should have sounded like.