The Transit War: Miss Your Face
Orange Peel Records
2006
9 out of 10

This CD is fantastic!  Some bands just ooze with sincerity and thoughtfulness.  TTW is one of them.  “Miss Your Face” has a very strong pop element to it, but there is still plenty of edginess to go along with it.  If I was going to write what

 Secret Apollo
I thought the cooking recipe was for this CD, it would be as follows:   

1 part Cursive – “The Ugly Organ”
1 part No Knife – “Riot for Romance”
1 part Alkaline Trio – “Crimson”
3 parts secret TTW sauce

Most of the songs are incredibly infectious!  You will tap your feet!  You will bob your head to the grooves!  You will pick up on phrases and start to sing along!  You will want to listen more than once!  Perhaps one of the most appealing qualities of this record is the vocal cadences which are loaded with variety and show a lot of musical maturity.  There are some quirky and seemingly out of key moments vocally.  This is something that would normally drive many listeners mad.  Strangely, it just doesn’t bother me with TTW whatsoever.  In fact quite the opposite!  The quirky moments actually add a great deal of character to the music which I love!  I would go so far as to say that those moments are a trademark of the band’s sound which manifest in such a neat/audible way that I credit them for a large portion of the sincerity and edginess that I hear in the music.  Of course the well thought out lyrical content and instrumentation coupled with straight up rock n roll grooves and plenty of dynamics have a lot to do with it as well. 

A couple of stand out tracks for me were “Loud” and “Sheep in Your Head.”  “Loud” opens with a really interesting drum groove and very cool Dave Smalley-esque Irish influenced vocal rhythm.  Despite the title of the song, it also has some very quiet musical moments that have a lot of positive dynamic impact in and out of the transitions.  “Sheep in Your Head” is easily my favorite song.  It strikes me as the most No Knife influenced…mostly because of the opening guitar riff, but once again, it is the vocal rhythms that win me over.  I won’t blab too much more about this CD, but at the same time, I wouldn’t want to end this review without mentioning how damn sweet the break down in “Chutes and Lasers” is.  All in all, “Miss Your Face” is a terrific follow up to Ah Discordia and I have nothing but positive things to say about it.   

- TD

Read a follow-up interview with the Transit War!

Help keep sandiegopunk alive by visiting our sponsors!