Southtowne Lanes

Yet everything came together perfectly during the penultimate set by Southtowne Lanes, an excellent emo band featuring venue co-founder Tyler Giard. Undoubtedly the most well-known band there, Southtowne Lanes incited frantic, cathartic fist-pumping and a large mosh which received rave reviews from participants.

“That fucking mosh pit, man,” said attendee Julien Royer, who had previously seen Southtowne Lanes perform at the Campbell Club. “It was great. People were down, they were all stoked.”

As a substantial portion of the audience likely came to specifically see this band, the energy truly gelled during this set. If this were to be the typical Boreal show, the venue’s success would be guaranteed. - Daily Emerald

First thing first: I only received the Southtowne side of this split for review. Second: I am so far outta the skramz, pop punk, emo loop at this point that my opinions should be considered merely cursory. That said, all of the charming traits that drew me emo when I was 17 years old are all present and accounted for: Occasional screaming, intentional flats, emotive lyrics, fleeting moments of guitar twinkles and obvious sad-kid movie dialogue (I kinda feel like uber-cult flick Donnie Darko might have been a lazy choice, but it gets the job done.)

Production-wise, This split showcases maturity in the year since last summer’s Break Me EP, also more vocal strength and arbitrary delivery. It would appear the guys have gained some vocal control, as well as a certain tightness. I suppose a couple tours will do that. Favorite track: “Let You Go” cuz the guitars make me think of the warmest parts of Minus The Bear mixed with every pop punk band I got kicked out of in my early 20′s. Warm fuzzies.- Joshua Isaac Finch - Exiled in Eugene

On July 1st, Oregon-based Southtowne Lanes released their new EP, Break Me. The EP is an impressive mix of emo, screamo, and straight up punk rock. The EP starts with the hard-hitting “Are You Happy?” which showcases influences like At The Drive-In and Sunny Day Real Estate, with a middle section reminiscent of The Devil And God-era Brand New. Next is “Dead Weight,” which falls somewhere between God’s Reflex-style emo and the type of slower, at times almost sludgy screamo played by bands like Caravels and Suis La Lune. “Take Me Away” and “Eulogy” could both be screamo tracks straight out of the late 90s or early 2000s, with influences like Thursday, early AFI, Refused and even, at times, the sort of almost pop-oriented screamo of bands like The Used especially in the intro section of “Eulogy”. The next track, “Starkblast,” again sounds heavily influenced by Brand New’s The Devil And God, but this time the heavy, chaotic emo bordering on screamo is interrupted by sections of fast, intense hardcore in the style of bands like Only Crime, Comeback Kid, and Gallows. The final song, “Break Me,” does a really good job of tying the album together by combining the influences of early emo and screamo bands like Sunny Day Real Estate and At The Drive-In, the more early 2000s/late 90s sound of Thursday and early AFI, and more modern influences like Caravels, Suis La Lune, Touche Amore, and heavier bands like Loma Prieta.

All in all, the EP is a really great progression for Southtowne Lanes and is one of my personal favorite releases so far this year. To be honest, I had listened to Southtowne Lanes before this album but I had never really gotten that into them, but Break Me is just such a well put-together and all around great album that I think it would get anyone interested in the band, and it certainly has for me. This is the sort of album where anybody with any level of interest in this kind of music can find something that they like. I’ll be looking forward to physical copies of the EP becoming available, and I’ll definitely try and make it to the show when their full US tour in support of the EP comes through Chicago. - Enfilade Music