Track Listing

1. New Wave
2. Up the Cuts
3. Thrash Unreal
4. White People for Peace
5. Stop!
6. Borne on the FM Waves of the HEart
7. Piss and Vinegar
8. Americans Abroad
9. Animal
10. The Ocean

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10473 in Music
• Released on: 2007-07-10
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Making their debut studio album, New Wave produces Against Me!, raising the agressive folk-punk, anarchist protest music up from the underground.

Amazon.com
Against Me! made the mistake of releasing one of the more beloved independent label debuts of the decade with 2002's Reinventing Axl Rose, and have been playing a game of catch-up ever since. Tom Gabel's Billy-Bragg-meets-the-Clash songcraft melded punk and folk, the political and the personal, and rocked pretty damn hard as well. Their output since then, while not at all disappointing, has necessarily lacked that shock of discovery. But with New Wave, one gets the sense that the band is hoping to finally move on. Released on a major label with big-time producer Butch Vig onboard, it's a rock record, full of straight-up stomp and swagger. Tracks like "Thrash Unreal" and "Americans Abroad" tear it up with a party-band brashness reminiscent of something like Rocket From the Crypt, or even Jimmy Eat World. But of course, Gabel has more on his mind than just a good time, and beneath the headbanging is a core of frustration and burning discontent with the world, with fame, with being chronically misunderstood. Lines like "you have to fight to stay in control of the situation" (from "Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart") and "are you restless like me?" (from "Up the Cuts") keep barking out from under the guitars, culminating in the soul-searching final track, "The Ocean." You'll have a good time with New Wave, but a sense of unease will be there in the morning, picking at your brain like a memory you can't quite place. --Matthew Cooke

Customer Reviews

New Age - New Direction
True, many long-time Against Me! fans will probably miss the bands folk-punk roots. This is not a folk-punk album. It is a great album none the less. As a long time fan, I can forgive Tom and Co. for not wanting to release the same record over and over again.

Electric-guitar driven, three chord punk music at its best. I love the new sound and everything Butch Vig has done on this record.

Against Me!, like others before them, have grown and moved forward with their music. If your own taste has not moved in the same directions as theirs, so be it. But is it fair to demand that the band remains at the same place with you?

And please, people... Can we all put the move to Sire behind us already? What about just keeping it about the music?

Another triumphant statement from Against Me!
Bottom line: if you like the band, I think you'll like this album. Follows in the line of SFAFC (which is to say not really a punk record) but the same victorious, fist-raising style reminiscent of all of AM!s works. 10 bucks well spent.

Good product; good band
The product itself is in fantastic condition. It came with a swanky CD, as well. Big bonus for myself. The record was also green; being my first record, it was a nice surprise. Against Me! Sounds even better on vinyl.