From the West Coast by way of Revolution Summer DC, Jade Dust comes through with six shout-a-long proto-emo anthems that jolt like black coffee in a tour van. The obvious comparisons are Marginal Man and Gray Matter (down to the font!), but the noisy/catchy guitar and hardcore dynamics evoke the tuneful DIYHC that came after, like Tiny Hawks, True Feedback Story, and various Sarah Kirsch bands. They’ve got a real knack for selling sincerity without being corny—by the end, my cynical ass was singing “I’ll show love! I’ll show compassion!” Jade Dust are definitely doing a thing, but I love that thing, and they do it with enough personality, energy, and panache that I flipped this record back to Side A when it ended. Mastered by Don Zientara at Inner Ear because, if you’re gonna do a thing, you do it right. I’d sew their patch onto my hoodie. –Chris Terry (Extinction Burst)