These folks apparently got started in 1997, with their first album coming out in 2003, so it’s safe to say that they’re, uh, in it, you know what I mean? Lifers. As I myself rocket towards the grave, I find a lot of solace in that—folks putting in the years and still sticking with it, still being moved and made enrapt by the music and all that accompanies it. Songs for Money very much feels timeless—current, but also like it might have come out at any point in the past few decades. Snotty, dorky, boom-bap punk stringently moored in earnestness. If you’ve ever heard Weston, it’s a good jumping-off point, but then there are songs like “Fire,” that’s just cool and weird and melodically and structurally pretty different, followed by the solemnity of “Sister,” and it becomes clear that they’re not sticking to any particular formula here. (Could definitely do without the spoken word/Speak & Spell-dream journal bit sandwiched in the middle of “Drunk Dreams,” though.) I feel like this one’s gonna reveal more and more little dazzling moments the more I listen to it. Pop punk less reliant on speed, more on the cerebral, the guts. –Keith Rosson (Salinas, salinasrecords.com)