SOMETHING CORPORATE/LEAVING THROUGH THE WINDOW (MCA/DRIVE-THRU)

Releasing their debut album at the end of last month the SoCo's are a new breed of pure-pop of punk nerds. Fresh from heavy rotation on MTV, Crud checks out this feisty Los Angeles quintet.

19/06/2002

A tinkling drama-drive piano might not be the most salient move ever for a five-piece pop-punk outfit to thrust out of the mix – but believe it or not - if it wasn’t for this wee embellishment, the SoCo’s would naturally run the risk of being obscured by the sheer teeming plethora of emo-charged punk core bands on the block.

The latest in batch of pop-smart, radio-ready young rockers being manicured to teen perfection by MCA and Drive-Thru Records, Something Corporate offer an off kilter intellect and a bustling and extended pop sensibility. Inspired in parts by the likes of Billy Joel and Elton John, whilst making safe, implicit nods toward Jimmy Eat World and Sum 41, Something Corporate are a bit of a conundrum: part feckless greasy teenager, part seasoned pro.

Already making a considerable splash across MTV, their debut album Leaving Through The Window released in the US on May 21st is prompting something of a turf-war in punk-pop circles: is it in fact possible not to diss a piano in punk? The spotty nerd with the dye sweeping down the nape of his spikey head-do would probably say, of course it’s not. The guy at the back of the class, and the one who doesn’t have to try to do so bad in his grades – and who may have actually read a book at leas once t in his lifetime – might say, ‘no dude, it’s not just possible: Something Corporate is the proof’.

The new Weezer? Well maybe not. But there are palpable similarities. The most obvious being the deft and literate hand that scrawls a new chapter in the teen-gospel, prompting a number of eager converts to assess the impact of the record as being pretty much like ‘something that was written for us’. Exaggeration or not, Leaving Through The Window is a strong, impressive debut. Joyous, whimsical, raging with hormones and bar the heavy-handed lighter-fuel drama of tracks like ‘Globes and Maps’, genuinely tender (‘Cavanaugh Park’).

Excusing the quality infringements of it’s Ben Folds-isms, and its Gerard Kennedy, storymaster narratives, the sheer ecstatic misery of tracks like "If You C Jordan" rake up enough power-chord images of 'The Sweater Song' to make this clock tick.

Eager and wide eyed, geeky and computer literate, this Southern California high school brigand of rankled wits is that little bit tastier than your average ‘youth-orientated’ band. And let’s face it; none of these bands are really punk. The first unwritten law of punk is anarchy: and it’s hard to be anarchic within the defined area that is your best-friend’s bedroom.

Alan Sargeant for Crud Magazine© 2002

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