Reviews

As you might or might not know, Joey Cape, frontman of Lagwagon and Bad Astronaut runs a record company, My Records. He's been doing that for quite some time, but it's still a relatively small label. Nevertheless, My Records gathered 21 bands for their third "Happy Meals" compilation. This really is an excellent comp, because it introduces good new talent and contains rare tracks from more famous artists. About half of the bands were complete strangers to me. But thanks to this cool sampler I met a couple of new amazing powerpop bands such as Goleta, Smile, Left Front Tire, Saltine and Ashtray Babyhead. It's safe to say that these bands are all more commercially oriented than the average poppunk band, but that certainly didn't bother me. Goleta and Left Front Tire impressed me the most - let's keep on eye on those guys. My Records' Armchair Martian is also featured on this comp, with an almost unrecognizable cover of Lagwagon's "Whipping Boy". Of course we also get to hear Joey Cape's trademark melancholic vocals again, in a beautiful acoustic version of May 16th and in a new, nice Bad Astronaut song. More big names are pranksters Me First And The Gimmie Gimmies and Nerf Herder. Nuff said.