The State Lottery - Cities We're Not From
These guys are spread out as per the diaspora of punk, hailing from different areas of the midwest and New York City. They play an extremely melodic, yet aggressive brand of punk rock that harkens back to M-Blanket and asks "what if Jawbreaker's first few records had good production quality?" The instrumentation is very dramatic and mature, complete with a horn section, harmonica and keys on top of the expected four-piece punk band set up. This eight song LP on Detroit's Salina's Records seems like a stage in growing up for the members; as their Myspace bio says: "It's about being an adult and building community, because, well, that's the only thing that's going to keep you from succumbing to whatever it is that's trying to kill you." - Mike Campbell