Chinese Telephones are one of those melodic punk bands that can be easily dismissed at first as typical. When you first hear the songs, they seem basic and easily forgotten but the infectious melodies creep up on you without warning. Then you hear music in your sleep and realize, “This is that fucking Chinese Telephones’ song playing over and over in my head. Why?” It creeps up on your shit and soon after, you’re looking for more stuff by them to put in your collection. Dear Landlord: more straight forward in their approach and equally infectious, take the “we listened to a lot of Screeching Weasel records” approach to pop punk. Along with some of that Midwestern “let’s all play like Dillinger Four because they’re way better than we’ll ever be” rock. Sounds insulting, but in reality it’s a compliment and dudes pull through with a couple of songs that are catchy as hell. Solid split all the way around.
–Dave Disorder (It’s Alive)