The Sidekicks - Weight Of Air

I've been meaning to write up a piece about this album for a long time now, but sometimes its hard to form a coherent thought, let alone pen an entry for this dumbass blog.

About 7 months ago, my friend Lindsay invited me to a Tigers Jaw concert in Pennsylvania with three staff members of this blog in tow, oddly enough (Sean, Jack, Blizzard Of '93). I dug the first Tigers Jaw album well enough, and I figured it might be the last time I see any of this crew for a long time, so I decided to hop on board. It was right before I left on a bike trip with no planned conclusion (one that ended far too soon), and I felt obligated to pack in as much party as possible into what little time I had left. The show was opened by a handful of bands I was only quasi-aware of but hadn't heard - Captain We're Sinking, Kite Fight, of course, the band in the header. For whatever reason, while the band was tight as hell and the vocal harmonies were pulled off to great effect, I remember saying something to the effect of "I wish they'd have laid off the college rock stuff and play more of the fast shit -perhaps to cement my presence as a generic punk rock asshole. I didn't bother giving their latest album a spin until a few months after, but if there's any testament to this band's songwriting talent, I was able to recognize 4 songs on Weight Of Air right off the bat as songs they played live.

The Sidekicks are a 4-piece, dual vocal pop-punk/"orgcore" band from California (I think) and have released 2 full lengths and a transitional EP between them. While their debut, So Long, Soggy Dog sounds a lot like what you'd expect from a band doing rounds on punknews with it's quasi-gruff, vaguely alt-rock indebted, and crunchy guitar'd pop-punk sound, Weight Of Air is a more mature, midwestern indie rock kind of album, with that 70's pop jangle and most of the aggression of the first album and preceding EP vanquished. That's not to say this is a trudger, though; almost every song is mid-to-uptempo, but the punk aspects have been toned down considerably and replaced with wonderfully hooky, Replacements-y, collegiate rock with appropriate touch of folk and the aforementioned 70's pop vibe. I apologize if that description could be clearer, but I really can't think of any current bands that encapsulate the same sound as these guys do. They're not reinventing the wheel exactly, but they're a great pastiche with no real contemporaries.
Here's an acoustic rendition of one of my favorite of their songs, "A Healthy Time" done for the Pink Couch Sessions; I feel like the easy transition from electric illustrates the point about their lack of "punkiness" pretty well:

While the songs aren't technical or complex by any means, there are lots of little intricacies that begin to show themselves upon repeat listens, like tinkering with the guitar leads from verse to verse or the cadence of the vocal harmonies; nothing ridiculously innovative, but the real charm here is how naturally the songs fall together and progress, especially with the incredibly hooky vocals and sing-a-long-able choruses. Just top notch songwriting throughout, and a sound that the band seems much more comfortable with than the aggressive pop-punk of their first two releases.

try it here
then
buy it here

I really wish I had gotten into these guys before I saw them live, 'cause it definitely seems like a wasted opportunity now.