If sweet and easy pop punk is your thing, this is the split for you. Capitalist Kids take Side A, fresh after releasing Lessons on Love, Sharing, and Hygiene. They play Mr. T Experience influenced pop punk/song-about-a-girl. Here, only two of the three are on that subject: opener “Special Looks,” which features the beautifully self-aware lyric, “I’ll keep writing dumb songs/ because you inspire me” to the Bee Gee’s cover “Claustrophobia.” Sandwiched in between is a song about data privacy—it’s timely but, frankly, the sweeter the chorus, the less sting to the political bite.
As for Side B, it’s the first I’ve heard of Tight Bros. They definitely fit on this split, taking a louder, ballsier swing at the pop-punk pitch, and they succeed as well. They have something of a Marked Men/Dirt Cult sound, though it’s a touch more repetitive and a little dirtier on the recording. Of the three jams, “Little Bird” is more memorable, while the next two songs seem to grow in their level of “pop,” drawing some distinction from the aforementioned garage influence and displaying a little less grit in the process.
This is a 7” for the Lookout Records-schooled pop fans out there, more in tune to vocal melodies and verse chorus verse and less into the whoa-ohs and dirty sweatshirts.
