Made In America - CANCERS, "Fatten The Leeches" (2014)

I'm a little late to the game in coming across the debut album Fatten The Leeches from the Athens, Georgia based duo Cancers. As soon as I clicked on the opening track "Be Cool" I was immediately transported back to my teenage years. On the cusp of graduating high school, long dark brown hair hiding a pimpled face, I was moving out of my "metal only" phase and beginning to open my ears up to a burgeoning grunge scene while falling in love with college rock that was transitioning into 90's alternative. 

What I loved most about 90's alternative were the introduction of more melodic choruses and catchy-as-hell hooks over crunchy guitars. It was hard-edged but welcoming at the same time.

Members Ella Kaspar and Lenny Millar are able to create a fat and filling sound with just the two of them with Kaspar's vocals adding an extra sweetness to their sound in a way that Kristin Herch did with Throwing Muses or Kay Hanley did with Letters To Cleo. What separates Cancers from the aforementioned is that they deliver the sweetness with a crunchier outer shell.

Made In America - BEACH SLANG "Who Would Ever Want Anything So Broken?" EP (2014)

It's not easy to define what an anthem is but you usually know one when you hear it. An anthem reaches down into the pit of your stomach by way of your ear holes, rips out your insides and exposes them for everyone to see. At that point you no longer care who's looking at you, you just belt out the lyrics at the top of your lungs to the point of exhaustion and pray for the song to go on forever.

A few names instantly come to mind when I think of bands that have, in my opinion, perfected the art of writing the anthem. The Replacements, The Gaslight Anthem, and Superchunk have all, at one time or another, gotten me to that point where I'm no longer just listening to the song, I'm now living inside of the song. Eye's closed, mouth open, fist's in the air living inside of the song. Philadelphia's Beach Slang has gotten me to that point with their new EP Who Would Ever Want Anything So Broken?, out now on Dead Broke Rekerds.