Various
Dangerous Intersections VI [7-inch] (2010)
Brian Shultz
While I haven't loved Traffic Street's Dangerous Intersections series, I've found them all so far to be overall solid and fresh offerings of some pop-punk variety. Though it feels like the series has been on a slight decline since III, no. VI stays steady enough for loyal subscribers.
No High Fives to Bullshit kick it off with "My Friends?". I got pleasant, promising Unfun/24 Hour Revenge Therapy vibes on their 2009 split with Snuggle, but this is fairly different. The vocals better resemble a rougher, sloppier Ari Katz circa Hello Bastards or so while the music goes on a chunky, clunky pop-punk route with a boomy, muffled production scheme. Not bad per se, but I did expect something far more ambitious after the likes of the expansive "Drawing a Blank" (from the aforementioned split).
The Manix kick it into high gear with "Red Truck", a faster jam full of quick riffs, a lively and celebratory, post-Screeching Weasel session that's fun and sprightly through its sub-two minute course.
This doesn't even necessarily count for the Humanoids, but it's only their third release in three years, all of which have been EPs! "Pride by the Barrel" doesn't entirely satiate the long wait, but it's a solid and charred representation of their Dillinger Four/Descendents mashing-up.
Probably the most well-known band of this particular four-way, the Taxpayers close it with a comparatively epic, four-minute suite in "The Lights". It's a swaying and fun, slightly horn-tinged number with alternately snarled and scratchily shouted vocals, with less readily apparent tinges of Bomb the Music Industry! and early Against Me! than their other material may tend to offer.
If you've enjoyed this series thus far, Dangerous Intersections VI will probably be no exception–though its mood is noticeably more joyous than most other volumes, interestingly.