Honestly, pop punk is one of the least creative genres in the industry. Most of the bands sound like clones of each other. The same three chord progression. Same budd-a-thump of the drums. And don't even get me started on the snotty vocals. Now, there are a few pop punk records which have weaseled their way into my heart. I don't know if the new Slick Shoes cd, "Far From Nowhere", will be one of those or not, but this is a solid release.

The greatest thing about this cd, being a pop punk release, is that I can hear differences between the songs. While listening to track seven I don't feel like I'm still on the first track. I wouldn't exactly notch that up to "creativity", but they aren't being lazy in writing songs, unlike their pop punk counterparts. So often when listening to a pop punk record it feels like they write one song and just put different lyrics to it, then record it ten different times. Many of the songs feature some kind of guitar ear candy. While other pop punk bands have talented guitar players, they don't really let their ability shine.

Thankfully, Slick Shoes allows the pop punk redundancy curse to be broken by letting their guitar players go mad. Not every song is graced with a solo, but there are more than enough here to have me playing my air guitar, pretending I have long hair swishing around my face.

There are two main complaints I have with this album. First, the cover art has that standard Asterik Studio look to it. Reminds me of every other album cover I've seen come from them in the past year. A photo illustration with manipulated, not-quite-realistic colors. My only other complaint is that Ryan Kepke's vocals sometimes make me feel like I'm listening to a Dogwood song. However, that complaint is only featured on a handful of the songs. The songs have a brisk feel, and most of them clock in between two and three minutes. Two songs go over three minutes while only one fails to break the two minute barrier.

With the hidden track, the entire cd clocks in at just over 33 minutes. Those who want more bang for their buck may want to wait to find this used somewhere before shelling out full price for it. Of course, there aren't many filler songs, either, so it's not as likely to get as redundant on repeat listens. If you hate pop punk, there won't be anything here to convince you otherwise. However, if you enjoy the genre, put aside your Relient K and your Good Charlotte and check out a band with talent.

peace.