52. Weston: Matinee
The first time I ever heard Weston was a friend’s band who used to cover one of their songs. The song was Old Shirt/Heather Lewis from their album Got Beat Up. Got Beat Up is a straight up pop-punk good time and arguably an under-appreciated masterpiece of the genre. The follow up Matinee sounds like a completely different band by comparison.
It’s sad how unknown this band is when their style and sound was leaps and bounds ahead of the masses. Matinee is to Weston what Pinkerton was to Weezer. It’s packed with personal stories, love songs and satire. It’s extremely critical towards the Radio and the Music Industry.
The albums plays out like a movie by beginning and ending with the sound of a projector. To even further push the "movie" theme the lyrics are written in the main booklet in a "screenplay" format.
The opening track (appropriately named Opening Chord) is about how unoriginal music is. Lead singer Jim Synder sings "You probably heard this melody line before/I thought it up at the Grocery store/So stop your engines and start the press/I probably ripped you off, yeah that's my guess". The theme of unoriginal music continues into the next track Record Store, the closing track Radio and the fourth track Indie Rock Star when Jim chants "We're just a plain old indie rock band/We're bigger than the Beatles ever were" The stand out track on this album is also the shortest track. The 2:25 song Mrs. Perfect Girl is everything that a good old-fashion pop punk should be about. It's short, it's sweet, it's to the point and most importantly, it's very catchy
Am I saying that this is an album that should be owned by everyone on the planet? Not at all, but this is the type of CD that when you listen to it you want to pick up a guitar and start your own band.
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