Link: Crashbox’s HomePage and Crashbox’s MySpace Page.
The Inside Pulse: From the Bronx comes Crashbox, the latest entrants into the already overcrowded power pop scene. Sal Scoca, Chris Petro, Pete Santagada, and Angelo Fariello have been making music together for close to a decade now, first under the name of Pinwheel before finally breaking through with a major label deal as Crashbox. Now they’re ready to take their brand of power pop out of the Big Apple and across the 50 states. But is there anything here to make them stand out from the pack in a genre known for its interchangeability?
Positives: From the album’s opening song, “Radio”, you can tell these guys have a good pop sensibility. The songs are catchy and hook-laden, crafted to catch your ear and get your head nodding. Songs such as “Life of the Party” and “Standing on the Hill” are guaranteed to please fans of the genre.
Negatives: This album suffers from the exact same problem most power pop albums suffer from. It all sounds the same. If you were to pull songs from this album and make a mixtape combining them with songs from Good Charlotte, Taking Back Sunday, Yellowcard, and Jimmy Eat World, it would sound like an album from one single band. There’s absolutely nothing here to distinguish them from the throng of Green Day wannabes oversaturating the market.
Cross-breed: Any of a dozen power pop bands, from Fountains of Wayne to Three Days Grace.
Reason to buy: If you’re a hardcore power pop fan, then you may find something here to enjoy. But unless you’re someone who can distinguish the subtle gradations of difference between bands of this genre, you can save your money and pop in any of the other CDs by any other power pop band you may have in your collection.
