Banquets - Top Button, Bottom Shelf

Okay so, the RIYL list for Banquets includes The Loved Ones and The Menzingers. I have to say, this is EXTREMELY accurate. Someone did their math right when making those comparisons, because even if I hadn't read the list before listening to the new Banquets LP Top Button, Bottom Shelf, I would have immediately been like, "these dudes reminds me of The Loved Ones." I even stared at their press photo for like a solid minute making sure I didn't see Loved Ones singer Dave Hause in it. He wasn't...but the singer of Banquets (Travis) totally reminds me of him. So yeah, Banquets. What can I say about Banquets?

Banquets are an awesome pop punk group from I'm guessing either New Jersey or Minneapolis...since they make pop punk and all. Oh, turns out they're from New Jersey. Told you. There has to be some sort of like quiz you can take to find out whether or not your tastes are going to be compatible with Banquets. I mean, there has to be that sort of thing for any band, right? Here's roughly what the quiz would look like, when composed by a dude who was very briefly in college to work on a degree in teaching:

1. Do you listen to melodic punk/pop punk?
2. Are you a fan of The Loved Ones?
3. Have you already listened to Banquets on bandcamp and decided they're awesome?
4. Do you have any tattoos?

Okay so, no matter what you answered for any of these brilliantly composed questions, the outcome is that you'll probably dig the new album out by Banquets. It's a very accurate method of finding the correct audience for such an awesome pop punk release from Black Numbers. There's 10 songs on Top Button, Bottom Shelf, and therefore 10 ways to fall in love this band. These are brilliant punk songs, dudes. I'm seriously here. The recording quality is excellent, too. This isn't like Vacation where you appreciate the art but are a little bit annoyed by not being able to even remotely understand what the fuck they're singing about. It's more like every other pop punk band (excluding Delay and Punkin Pie), where the recording quality is pretty damn alright.

So yeah. You should buy this record. You can get it from the Black Numbers webstore. It's so simple! But yeah, Banquets, rad.

-Idle

You should leave comments and whatnot.