Pulley - Time-Insensitive Material

Artist: Pulley

Album: Time-Insensitive Material

Label: X-Members

Pulley has, and always will, perfectly embody 90's melodic hardcore skate-punk.  Their 2004 masterpiece, Matters, kept the dying genre alive and well.  I still find myself humming memorable tracks like "Insects Destroy" and "A Bad Reputation."  But then the band just sort of faded away.  Their dismissal from former label Epitaph likely didn't help matters, since the band had to find a new home before releasing new material.  But freedom can also be liberating (The band refers to themselves as "FREE AGENTS" on their myspace).  So rather than aligning themselves with a new label, the band opted to form their own label, X-Members.  While their latest release, a five song EP titled Time-Insensitive Material, took time to finally surface while the band settled on distribution details, the result was well worth the wait.

As already mentioned, each of the album's five tracks sound like perfect 90's melodic punk.  Pulley has not been shaped by modern trends that have transformed "punk" into what can generously be called "power pop."  They don't sound like The All American Rejects, they don't sound like Marina's Trench, and they certainly don't sound like Fall Out Boy.  No, these boys channel the an era when the EpiFat (Epitaph and Fat Wrech Chords) regime was synominous with "punk."  Pulley has, an always will, sound like the perfect blend of Bad Religion and No Use For a Name.  Time-Insensitive Material doesn't reinvent the wheel, or even really improve on it, but it doesn't need to.  It's been a long five years since Matters, and I've been starved for the kind of punk rock I grew up with for quite some time.  So a tiny taste of new Pulley material doesn't need to do anything but remind me of how much I miss the days when the genre was plentiful and abundant.

That isn't to say that Pulley doesn't offer anything other than nostalgia.  Each song boasts only the finest melodic vocals, courtesy Scott Radinsky.  Each chorus layers the perfect balance of solo sections and shadow vocals, producing a "full" sound that keeps Radinsky' deadly consistency from becoming repetitive.  Lyrically, Pulley continues their tradition of focusing on social issues and questioning government intent.  For example, "Enemies" explores deceptive government agendas, and uses one of my favourite "Bushisms" (ill thought out, and unintentionally funny, George Bush quotes) to strengthen their point.  When it comes to politics, Pulley knows how to engage their listeners.

I'm quite aware of how biased and personalized this review sounds - but I don't care.  Sometimes I hear an album that simply reminds me why I love music.  Time-Insensitive Material demonstrates that some sounds are indeed timeless.  Fads may come and go, but Pulley lives on.