The Gainesville scene has produced some of the biggest punk bands of the last several decades. Especially for this part of the internet, it is pretty obvious that it is still a very vibrant scene. Articles is a band that has been grinding it out there since at least 2017 and with half a dozen releases under their belts, the results will raise some eyebrows. The same definitely goes for the trio’s latest release, 2021’s Better Than Me.







Generally speaking, the seven-track LP clearly has Broadways and Lawrence Arms influences. It’s what immediately came to mind after a first listen. The first track “What’s My BPM Again?” is a straight-forward, but very catchy melodic punk tune full of heavy palm-muting and anthemic choruses. The lead singer’s voice in this song and throughout the album has a high-pitched, but raspy tone to it. The title track sort of does the inverse of “What’s My BPM Again?” It switches between mid-tempo chord playing to fast and crunching palm-muting and back. All of this broken up by the high-treble, lead guitar riff.



“Desert Drugs” takes Better Than Me down a gloomier path. It’s the slowest song on the record and the music kind of rains down into your ears. The lead singer is backed up by these big “woah’s” that lead up to the song’s big finish.







Better Than Me shows that Articles is absolutely an up-and-coming band that more people should be paying attention to. Going forward, I think they need to expand their sound a bit more and do some experimenting. What people should take away from this record is that this band has a lot of potential. I think their best material is yet to come, but for now go enjoy Better Than Me.







You can listen to this record here.