With three bands spanning multiple facets of indie rock’s more angular landscape, “post-everything” comes to mind. On this 3-way split featuring Saboteur, The Mockingbird Nightmare and Red Light Green Light, each band compliments each other’s musical differences in a fashion that would set the stage for a diverse yet focused gig at your favorite sweaty rock club, or better yet, legion hall/VFW. This is the sound of three bands brimming with an exuberance and a ferocity only tamed by their intelligent songcraft. Dallas, Texas’ Saboteur comes out of the gate with three blistering tracks of witty, airtight, post-punk anthems, reminiscent of the almighty Jawbox or Soulside, that you’ll be sure they were raised on the blueprint of the Dischord Records roster. What sets Saboteur apart is their contagious melodies underlining each song with hooks as large as their Marshall boosted riffs. Containing the best elements of their past bands, Saboteur features both alumni and a tunefulness of a hearty Dallas music scene, more directly, Red Animal War, Slowride and The Numbers Twist from which they hail. A background as solid as that needs little introduction. Kent, England’s The Mockingbird Nightmare offer up their first proper installment of songs after only a 2-song demo caught our ear here at Engineer. Three brand new tracks injected with no brevity in technicality and head spinning structure, which combat a sharp tongued vocal and lyrical prowess. The Mockingbird Nightmare’s music can be described as just that: a combat; a war from within, unleashed on anyone who’ll listen. Sure to turn the heads of fans of At The Drive-In, Planes Mistaken For Stars, Yourcodenameis:milo and These Arms are Snakes, The Mockingbird Nightmare offer up a more effect-laden listen than the aforementioned making use of pedal-swells, cascading chord shifts and a generous supply of effects that will leave you with substance to dwell upon. “Fuck the fashion, bring back the passion,” proclaim Rockaway, NJ’s Red Light Green Light blurring the lines of Refused and The Beastie Boys and doing it with an unmatchable intensity. These 5 guys have hit the pavement hard since their inception and played nearly every D.I.Y venue in their tri-state area many times over. They have recently booked a Canadian/East Coast tour, and a UK jaunt is pending. The power of the internet has been tremendous to RLGL, garnering over 180,000 MySpace hits without even a properly distributed release. As these guys take their brand of pop-infused “hip-hop hardcore” to the masses, it’s only a matter of time before Red Light Green Light are on everyone’s lips.

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