The 101

Sometimes it can be hard to escape the past. During his 12-year career, Eric Richter has won critical acclaim as part of the New Order-influenced Antarctica, but he is still best known for his first band, Christie Front Drive. For a band that only released one proper album during their time together, Christie Front Drive are still held in very high regard for being such a great influence on many emo bands. But it looks like Richter might finally be able to shake off the ghosts of his past with his new band, the 101. Green Street follows a well-received EP and sees Richter return to his roots again, with a stripped down, guitar-driven album. And that is naturally going to lead to comparisons to his early days, but his work with the 101 is his best to date. It would be hard to describe this as an original album, but the obvious comparisons that jump to mind are good one. Hiding the vocals way down in the mix brings back memories of early REM; the jangly guitars could come right from a Buffalo Tom album; while the rougher tracks are reminiscent of Prisonshake. Plus the songs never overstay their welcome, making Green Street a good old-fashioned, simple rock album that is a pleasure to listen to.