Hot Rod Circuit
““If It’s Cool With You, It’s Cool With Me””
(Triple Crown Records)
Somebody get vocalist Andy Jackson some Prozac. Fast. If you’ve just broken up with your girlfriend, dress in black, have a meticulously trimmed goatee, and spend all of your time reading Kafka and Nietzsche in coffee houses, Hot Rod Circuit is the band for you. It’s no coincidence Hot Rod Circuit sounds like the Get Up Kids and At The Drive-In, seeing as how they’’ve toured extensively with both emo-punk acts. “If it’s Cool with You” boasts eleven tracks of power chords, minor riffs, and a fair amount of lamenting over love’s labor lost. HRC (formerly known as Antidote) shows a lot of maturity and insightfulness on this EP, their first full-length under their new moniker. As opposed to such perky, power-pop bands as A New Found Glory, HRC never diverges from seriousness into silliness, allowing each track to blend seamlessly into the next. The result, rather than eleven good singles, is a great album. The haunting, melodic tone of “The Power of Vitamins” is worth the price of admission alone. Fans of Jimmy Eat World and Built to Spill will undoubtedly want to pick this one up.
