Midtown
Living Well Is The Best Revenge
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For $10.48

Emo bands have been getting a lot of attention these days. Time magazine even had a feature on the so-called emo movement recently. I’m still trying to figure out what the heck emo is. One of those rock critic words that’s been around for about fifteen years, emo has been loosely defined as music with emotional content or confessional lyrics sung or shouted by sensitive white guys over usually loud guitars. Um okay, that doesn’t really narrow it down too much. I mean, to me music without emotion is like tires without air. Y’know, what’s the point? I guess it says something though about our disposable, Britney Spears pre-fab culture that something with genuine emotion is deemed to be unusual and constitutes a movement.

Midtown is a New Jersey band that rock critic types say straddles the line between emo and hardcore. To me their latest record Living Well Is the Best Revenge just sounds like infectious punk-pop that owes as much a debt to Husker Du as to Blink 182 or Weezer. Bassist Gabe Saporta and guitarists Heath Saraceno and Tyler Rann all take turns on lead vocals while Rob Hitt (great name for a drummer) guides the band through unexpected rhythm shifts and sings nice harmony backing vocals. Jimmy Eat World Producer Mark Trombino mans the board for the record.

The songs do have the emotional content required to place Midtown in the emo camp. They’re mostly of the “girl leaves and/or betrays guy, guy tries to figure out what went wrong” variety. Take “A Faulty Foundation” for example: “I’m through and now I’ve come to mend / These wounds were gored by you / Through all of them.” Or “Still Trying”: “Everyone’s just looking for / A person whom to trust / But every time I turn around / I feel that you are lost.” Or how about these lines from the opening “Become What You Hate”: “How could I have been so blind / How could I have ignored so many signs / Especially when my friends warned me / About your deceptive side.” Anyway, you get the idea.

The mandatory guitar roar meanwhile remains pretty consistent throughout the record, although tracks like “One Last Time” also offer pretty underlying melodies. “Like A Movie” is an interesting character study about a woman who experienced tragedy in her past and now seeks answers for why her life didn’t end up better. And “Perfect” is the track here that perhaps offers the strongest combination of Midtown ingredients, mixing up the jackhammer rhythms, crooning, and even a nifty guitar solo.

But it’s “In the Songs” on which Midtown seems most inspired and actually shows a personality of their own. It’s a nice little ode to their musical support community on which the band reminisces about nights playing house shows and sleeping on hardwood floors: “Now we’re standing so tall / We’ve made it through it all / And we’ll keep it going strong / ‘Cause I feel it in the songs.” A heartfelt anthem of commitment to the rock and roll lifestyle-- now that’s what I call emo.

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