New Wave Contains CD of Album Inside

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com
Against Me! made the mistake of releasing one of the more beloved independent label debuts of the decade with 2002's Reinventing Axl Rose, and have been playing a game of catch-up ever since. Tom Gabel's Billy-Bragg-meets-the-Clash songcraft melded punk and folk, the political and the personal, and rocked pretty damn hard as well. Their output since then, while not at all disappointing, has necessarily lacked that shock of discovery. But with New Wave, one gets the sense that the band is hoping to finally move on. Released on a major label with big-time producer Butch Vig onboard, it's a rock record, full of straight-up stomp and swagger. Tracks like "Thrash Unreal" and "Americans Abroad" tear it up with a party-band brashness reminiscent of something like Rocket From the Crypt, or even Jimmy Eat World. But of course, Gabel has more on his mind than just a good time, and beneath the headbanging is a core of frustration and burning discontent with the world, with fame, with being chronically misunderstood. Lines like "you have to fight to stay in control of the situation" (from "Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart") and "are you restless like me?" (from "Up the Cuts") keep barking out from under the guitars, culminating in the soul-searching final track, "The Ocean." You'll have a good time with New Wave, but a sense of unease will be there in the morning, picking at your brain like a memory you can't quite place. --Matthew Cooke

Album Description
Making their debut studio album, New Wave produces Against Me!, raising the agressive folk-punk, anarchist protest music up from the underground.

Customer Reviews: Read 29 more reviews...

3 out of 5 stars

In Response to Public Aggression August 6, 2007
10 out of 15 found this review helpful

Against Me! are in a tough position - torn between the punk DIY aesthetic that caters only to the original community of fans, and the demands of the larger world of the mainstream. The tension of trying to keep it real for everybody has saddled Against Me! with a dreary sound and an inability to stretch out musically. True punk aggression and vehemence only break out in a few places here, most notably in the blistering "Americans Abroad." But otherwise, criticizing the music biz with lines like "Have I heard this song before?/Did this already happen?" just sounds self-righteous and condescending when accompanied by music that does almost nothing to transcend its basic category. Though there is one attempt at extra creativity that doesn't work at all - the duet with fragile-voiced Tegan Quin (of Tegan & Sara) in "Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart." Meanwhile, the one thing that has made Against Me! truly unique - the strong anarchist lyrical outlook - seems to have fallen by the wayside in all but a few songs here. The savage subversion of "White People for Peace" and the aforementioned "Americans Abroad" show continuing lyrical strength, but the bend's intelligence is undermined by mistakes such as the know-it-all self-help of "Stop!" or the sappy character sketch "Thrash Unreal." This album is a tragic case of unrealized potential, from a band that could reach great heights as soon as they decide to please themselves first. [~doomsdayer520~]

5 out of 5 stars

New Age - New Direction July 10, 2007
7 out of 8 found this review helpful

True, many long-time Against Me! fans will probably miss the bands folk-punk roots. This is not a folk-punk album. It is a great album none the less. As a long time fan, I can forgive Tom and Co. for not wanting to release the same record over and over again.

Electric-guitar driven, three chord punk music at its best. I love the new sound and everything Butch Vig has done on this record.

Against Me!, like others before them, have grown and moved forward with their music. If your own taste has not moved in the same directions as theirs, so be it. But is it fair to demand that the band remains at the same place with you?

And please, people... Can we all put the move to Sire behind us already? What about just keeping it about the music?

4 out of 5 stars

Another triumphant statement from Against Me! August 19, 2007
7 out of 9 found this review helpful

Bottom line: if you like the band, I think you'll like this album. Follows in the line of SFAFC (which is to say not really a punk record) but the same victorious, fist-raising style reminiscent of all of AM!s works. 10 bucks well spent.

4 out of 5 stars

You Say You Want a Revolution September 16, 2007
6 out of 8 found this review helpful

"Are you restless like me?" barks lead singer Tom Gabel on Against Me!'s terrific "New Wave." If maybe you are, then this pounding rock record will make you jump up and shake off some dirt. "New Wave" opens the album by delivering clean and crisp rock and roll in a short, sharp blast (courtesy of producer Butch Vig), barking out anthemic lyrics like it's 1978 and they've just heard of The Clash or even Bad Religion for the first time. From there, the heat never lets up. While this may not be the political firebrand some punk rockers of that era would have been, there is still enough grousing in the songs to make you feel the band gives a toss.

That kind of frustrated fury underscores "White People for Peace," where a useless and stupid war riles up the populous. So how does the mob respond? "Protest songs in response to military aggression," howls the lyric, "but the battle raged on." It is hard to tell if Against Me! would prefer more protest or they are disillusioned with the fact that the guitars can't block the bullets. (My guess would be a little of each.)

After that, a lot of "New Wave" runs on the world of rocking. Both "Up the Cuts" and "Stop!" argue that you can be a great band if you stay true to yourself, and (in "Stop!") that success is the best revenge. "Piss and Vinegar" and the title song takes mainstream radio/tv to task for being bland purveyors of nothing in particular. Expanding on that theme, the catchy shout-along "Americans Abroad" looks depressingly at the band's world tour and discovering "everywhere that we go Coca-Cola's already been."

If you're looking for troubled relationships, they are here as well. Tegan (of Tegan and Sara) duets on "Bourne on the FM Waves of the Heart" and more base urges grunt from "Animal." There's also a lament for an aging junkie club-girl in "Thrash Unreal." And it all clocks in at 33 minutes. Thing is, "New Wave" sounds so loud, so insistent and so vital, that I have just kept hitting repeat every time I slip it in my CD player. Which has been a lot, lately. Against Me! have already found their way onto my list for one of the best of 2007.

3 out of 5 stars

Moving into a "new" direction! July 12, 2007
5 out of 7 found this review helpful

"It does seem tempting to write on Against Me!'s place in the punk scene (if there is one) and the nature of independent versus major labels, the "punk ghetto," and a whole heft of other topics. The one thing that all of these topics -- which are sure to be covered here, there and elsewhere -- miss the real point, which is the music." (Justin Punknews.org)
During the first half of the album songs including "White People for Peace" and "New Wave" roar out of the speakers with intensity, but through the course of the material tends to drag with too many repeated choruses. "Thrash Unreal" starts as a real Gem with great potential, but once again, the chorus starts with bbbomp bbbomp, which sounds like filler from the 50's. Honestly, I have tried hard to like this release, but in the back of my mind I feel this record is not every thing it should be. I can understand a band wants to experiment and change, which is something Against Me! has done on every release, but songs such as "Animal" and "Stop!" sound like bad Euro Pop with disco beats, just poorly written material. That is not to say that the whole second half of the album is horrible, "Americans Abroad" is well written tune depicting America's Globalization overseas, along with the mishaps of being a misunderstood tourist, which I can vouch for, since it became an anthem for my own Euro trip last spring. However, this song was released almost a year ago under the live album of the same name. The last song "The Ocean" is one of the better experimental songs sounding closer to Modest Mouse with Tom Gabel shouting, "I wish I was born a Woman".
What can I say about Against Me. I'm 27, I have not been this excited about a band since I was 14. Seeing the band four times and having the chance to meet the lads with my wife behind a club in Reno are things I will remember well into my old age. Perhaps these occurrences raised my hopes way too high.
Truthfully, I believe Against Me! has the potential to be the biggest band in the world and I hoped that "New Wave" was going shatter the Emo pop mold, but currently I have considerable doubts. The only thing I can hope for is this record to grow on me, who knows, maybe this time next year I will be rewriting this review, but I have my doubts.

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