The Sandwiches

Hitting Refresh to Drop Witty Comments (2009)

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Hitting Refresh to Drop Witty Comments, the first proper release by new punk group the Sandwiches, is not an album for which the band should feel ashamed. It really isn't. Some people might say the six-song EP is a natural and immature by-product of a bunch of 20-something losers who have nothing better to do than to read Punknews.org all day while simultaneously dreaming about making a band about reading Punknews.org all day. Such critics might even view the resulting band and album as a pointless and superfluous extension of such nonsense.

But Hitting Refresh to Drop Witty Comments is much more than that. It's more than just a pseudo-parody or tribute album to Punknews.org. It really is. It's a genuine release by a genuine group of musicians (that have never met in real life, mind you) that are trying to genuinely impact the punk scene by creating genuinely enjoyable music.

To do this, the band decided to do something creative. Most bands don't have a theme. That's not true for the Sandwiches, whose theme could be described as a result and reflection of the community and sound that is by now widely known as the moniker orgcore.

The Sandwiches' method of doing this is a sort of musical theater, one both influenced and influencing of the genre mentioned above. In this play, characters from the org community (such as MattRamone and Holy_Balls) make expected appearances. Also, traditional (but admittedly worn out) Punknews memes comprise the lyrics to an entire song. And most apparent is the actual sound of the music, which is probably exactly as you guessed it would be…medium-tempo, Hot Water Music-esque compositions with bratty, childish vocals and sneering guitar chords and melodies. In other words, it's orgcore-tastic.

Yeah, it's all here. The release is a complete package. I don't know how else to write it… The Sandwiches appear to be a real band making real music. And fuck me if it isn't enjoyable to top it all off.

Standout tracks "And Out Come the (Timber)Wolves" and "Who Is Phone?" show the band's ability to find a pleasant sound that falls between mid-tempo-guitar-and-vocal-harmonies and laid-back choruses featuring "whoa"-laden gang chants. Again, this is standard orgcore you're looking at. The result is enjoyable and anthem-filled tracks that typically run kind of long. The six songs clock in just under 18 minutes. A few tracks could have been 30 seconds (or so) shorter with no loss of quality to the album. Regardless, the release as a whole is tight and sounds professional. And if tight and professional sound like the product of an excellent band to you, that's because it probably is.