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The Dopamines & Dear Landlord

Split EP

Written by: PP on 04/06/2011 03:29:19

Here's a release that should make all fans of no-frills pop punk wet their pants: a split EP by two of the most exciting and simultaneously most underrated bands in the genre, Dear Landlord and The Dopamines. Both hard-working bands who spend the majority of their time on tour, playing energetic, mood-uplifting melodic pop punk shows on both sides of the Atlantic. They've teamed up with the always awesome Paper + Plastic to release two songs each on a digital-only split, which will be available in just a couple of days from all your usual digital outlets.

First up are The Dopamines, who shovel two cleanly produced, but yet highly energetic and instantly catchy pop punk anthems your way. Especially "Heads Up Dusters" is so catchy I'll be darned if you're not singing along by the end of it. And yet this is achieved without any stupid gimmicks, unnecessary vocal flair, or any other useless crap infesting today's overproduced pop punk bands. They make it so damn simple with catchy hooks, good energy and simple song structures: the songs are just so easy to like.

Dear Landlord doesn't fall much short either. They have a more of an old school punk vibe to their approach, recalling the early 90s whereas their counterpart have a distinctly more modern flavor to their sound. In practice, it means that Dear Landlord pray to the tune of the old school sing along, raw melodies driven by distorted guitars and high-tempo chords, with next to no polish laid on top to avoid distracting the listener from the main point: great songs.

And though both bands are great, it does feel like The Dopamines take the upper hand here mostly due to their mad-catchy song "Heads Up Dusters" that I mentioned earlier. That being said, Dear Landlord strike back with "A Little Left" with a ton of emotion, so it's a close call, perhaps too close to decide either way. In any case, these four tracks serve as a great introduction to two very, very underrated bands that are likely to be on the punk circuit for many years to come. Only if there were a few more tracks to this...

Download: "Heads Up Dusters" by The Dopamines, "A Little Left" by Dear Landlord
For the fans of: no-frills pop punk, Teenage Bottlerocket
Listen: The Dopamines Myspace / Dear Landlord Myspace

Release date 07.06.2011
Paper + Plastick

The Dopamines: