It's really not fair anymore. How does Western New York birth every great new band these days? Specifically, Rochester. Marathon (now defunct), Polar Bear Club, Achilles, and even Lemuria is from nearby Buffalo. What's the deal?

Don't even bother trying to figure it out, because just when you think you have the answer, another band comes out of the woodwork. This time, it's Sakes Alive!!.

From note one, Sakes Alive!! drum up memories of D.C. bands of past, recalling the harsh vocals and society-under-a-microscope lyrical matter. To be honest, this isn't anything too different than what anyone's heard in the past 10 years...but that's kind of what makes it so good.

Chris Vandeviver and company take the standard formula of bands like Jade Tree's Challenger and pump it up a bit with a bit more passion and urgency. Knowing damn well this isn't the first band these guys have played in, listening to their three-song EP tricks you into thinking every note and shouted word might be coming from somewhere new within the four of them -- every shouted word sounds so honest and real you can't believe they were, most likely, written on paper and sang back into a mic at least a few times over.

I don't know what it is about Western New York, but New Jersey's days are numbered when it comes to breeding this sort of stuff. Fans of Challenger, Kid Dynamite, and Hüsker Dü -- take notice.