Freshmen 15

Fans of late '90s California pop punk are stoked. Despite a fully douched-out bro moniker and album title, Freshmen 15 sound like a band that heard Trashed by Lagwagon and immediately stopped letting any other music influence them. Throw Up Your Hands for One Night Stands is a full-length filled with fast punk beats, tight musicianship and pitch perfect, only slightly whiny, vocals about girls. "When Cheating Had Feeling" takes notes from New Found Glory, with some melodic hardcore elements sneaking into their pop punk repertoire. Countless '90s era punk bands had the most charmingly terrible production values for their records and one can't help but feel that the songs by Freshmen 15 would sound more "at home" if they were dubbed onto tape then back onto CD. If you're still down with pre-Take Off Your Pants and Jacket Blink, and you "sort of" like some of those new melodic hardcore bands (except their haircuts), this might be something you can get into.