Various Artists “Time Flies By”
This is a fairly amazing compilation from Netherlands, featuring mostly small and medium sized American bands, and highlighting some of the best melodic emo/pop-punk music coming out today. The only huge name on here is MIDTOWN, who contribute an acoustic version of “Living In Spite,” and although that might be a key selling point, the song is rather marginal compared to the 22 other excellent tunes. Most of the music on “Times Fly By” is previously released, but one would have to own a rather vast collection of music to track down all these songs on their own (or be a zine reviewer…). Immediate highlights on here include STARING BACK’s “Seasick While Standing Still,” EX NUMBER FIVE’s “Zero to Sixty in 10.6″ (unreleased song, insanely underrated band), ACCEPTANCE, with “Permanent,” FILMMAKER’s “This Revolution can wait until Morning,” CHRISTIANSEN’s “Let Us Now Die Famous Me” (if you miss ATD-I, these guys should fill that void), DON’T LOOK DOWN’s “Get It Right” (melodic pop-punk with an edge), GLASSEATER’s monster of tune, “Medicine” (yes, you’ve probably heard this song before, but it completely owns), COHEED AND CAMBRIA’s “Delirium Trigger” (this song just gets me amped), and THE STEREO’s “Pay No Attention.” A few other bands worthy noting include, FAVEZ, COUNTERFIT, LONG SINCE FORGOTTEN (doing their best Juliana Theory impression no less), and WATERPISTOL. The mastering on this compilation is very sharp, and all of the songs are seamlessly sequenced. If you’re looking for a top-notch compilation, good for listening at any time, with no pretensions involved, Emplane Records has something for your to check out.
Emplane
