Recently Reviewed:

The Neighbourhood
I Love You.

Iron Man 3: Heroes Fall
Various Artists

Paramore
Paramore

I’m not sure if Midtown is done or not, but if it’s not they all have pretty big side projects. Running through what all of them are currently doing; Tyler Rann sings in a band called Band of Theives. Rob Hitt has his own record label called I Surrender records. Heath Saraceno was added as Senses Fail’s guitarist. And Gabe Saporta has Cobra Starship. It’s hard to tell how Midtown fans react to this because of how music has evolved over the past five years, some might see it as a little bit of slap to the face, some might see it as cool because Gabe’s making more music, and some might be genuinely uninterested. In a way “being torn” isn’t just a good way of summing up Midtown’s fans towards Cobra Starship, it’s also a good way to sum up the album in general. I personally don’t know whether to shake my head or tap my foot. I want to tap my foot because damn- it’s catchy, but I keep shaking my head because Gabe Saporta is one of the best vocalists to ever front a pop-punk band and one can’t help but think that him dressing and acting in line with the current trends is a big waste. This is the guy that looked out of place as a rock star in Midtown, never really dressed the part / never really was the part but he had a certain amount of nerdy charisma to him that was magnetic for everybody. With Cobra Starship it feels like a lot of that charisma is gone. It’s kind of like the unpopular kid becoming popular and then turning his back on everything and acting completely different. It’s a juvenile metaphor but it fits Cobra Starship accordingly. Running through the album “Being From Jersey Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry” is a complete waste of time. Even if it’s meant to be kind of a joke track it’s dumb and it’s bad. Sorry for not running through the tracks one by one for you here, but it’s the same thing over and over, it’s pop music that sits comfortably on the big line between pop-punk and dance. It’s hypocritical, it’s mindless, it’s dumb, but damn-it it’s catchy.