Rapids descends from some pretty highly esteemed Chicago punk lineage, including Smoking Popes, Colossal, and Tuesday, so it’s no wonder that Traction hits so many pop punk sweet spots: right between clean-cut and rough-around-the-edges, bouncy and contemplative, straightforward and intricate. I’m a sucker for that second when noodly emo riffing gives way to driving power chords, so I’m clearly part of the target audience here. Take the straight-up punk energy of a band like Dear Landlord, mix in some of the careful introspection of The Jealous Sound or The Weakerthans, and make it Midwestern through and through. This is about what you’d get, and I hope to see more of it.
–Indiana Laub (Artistic Integrity)