Busy Signals - s/t LP/CD

Touching on several overlooked styles that have only recently become appreciated, the Busy Signals are an unstoppable explosion of so many great nuances that it will literally make your head spin.

With their instantly gratifying buzzing sound firmly rooted in original formula high-energy pop without a side of the feyness usually along for the ride, they have developed an incredible knack for weaving in bass lines and backup vocals that rekindle the magic created by first-wave Belgian punk bands right alongside the refreshing twists of primordial glam.

This all comes together to concoct a blend of "real deal" punk so enthralling you'll be surprised at how bleak your outlook on life was before you were exposed to it, and you'll quickly realize how passable everything else seems to sound that came before it.

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AMAZON.COM customer review: Has anyone mentioned The Pretenders when reviewing this? Think of Chrissie Hynde singing for the Buzzcocks circa 1979. Or, at least, that's a starting point. There is a heavy pre-1981 Pretenders vibe to this, even down to the phone call sound effects at the end of the song "Ring, Ring, Ring," which brings to mind the early Pretenders song "The Phone Call."

Busy Signals' sound is burlier than The Pretenders, however, (even counting the Pretenders' earliest phase) which is good. And although this is a punk LP, it is not thrashy, or aggro, or hairy-chested tough guy stuff. It's just well-written, well-executed, hooky-as-heck late 70s, early 80s style punk rock and roll. It owes as much to the Buzzcocks and the Undertones as it does to bands like the female-fronted Penetration and maybe even a hint of super early Blondie. But, like I said, Busy Signals play punk -- not new wave. The sound on this s/t LP is beefier than 70s punk stuff by a tad -- definitely guitar-driven -- but the vocals come through crystal clear, as in power pop. "Uh Oh," the second to last track, is a complete power pop gem. Come to think of it, every track on here is a winner to some degree.

AMAZON.COM customer review: This is perfectly orchestrated late 70s style punk rock / power pop from Chicago. I would say they are the best current punk band from that city. If you need a list of influences, look no further than the second song on this album. It sounds like an outtake from the first Undertones album!!! It should also be known that this band features members of the Tyrades, the Krunchies and the Carbonas. If you are into melodic punk rock in 2007 than this is the album for you.

AVERSION.COM Let's be honest: If you were granted just one wish, you'd go for something like eternally true love, a billion dollars or world peace. Who could blame you? And, truthfully, if you had a couple wishes at your disposal, it'd probably be something like a billion dollars in a peaceful world, or eternally true love and claws like Wolverine from the X-Men. Those would both be pretty cool.

But, granted some ridiculous amount of wishes, you'd probably ask for a pop band that didn't take itself too seriously that also isn't too sugary. If you're a music fan, it'd probably come in somewhere right between having a talking dog and a slightly less funny looking actor to take over the role of Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter movies. The important thing is, after exhausting a Dr. Faustus-like list of increasingly silly and petty whims, you'd want a pretty kick-ass band to have around. You know, just for when you're sipping that cocktail of 90-year-old whiskey out of the goblet made out of Britney Spears' skull.

The good news is you don't have to wait to find that genie and magic lamp that's willing to go the distance and give you a good bazillion wishes until you get to the power-pop band one, as The Busy Signals already have that covered. Perhaps by a higher-priority wish of one of the band members' own, or perhaps as another manifestation of divine intervention. Or maybe they just have a really cool record collection -- spanning The Boys to The Briefs -- and a lot of time to practice. It really doesn't matter, as The Busy Signals shoots the Chicago band into a world of jagged guitars, noisy recordings and the kind of melodies that will melt your heart.

But don't think it's any of that sissy power pop that sometimes streams from the radio. The Busy Signals are a band brought up in the punk underground, and this album sounds like it. "Just 4 Show" and "Tell Me" show what might have been The Ramones' legacy if it wasn't mutated by British thugs to lay the basis of modern punk, with breakneck guitars bopping along like amphetamines at the sock hop, as singer Analucia croons like the best of them. Listen hard enough, and you'll catch glimpses of '60s pop peeking through the cracks between the boisterous guitars and that kick up a rock'n'roll frenzy in cuts like "Patterns" and "Plastic Girl" are simply the product of a band wanting to play with punk's abandon and glee and not wanting to deal with all the readymade-rebellion bullshit that goes along with that scene.

The Busy Signals aren't doing anything remarkably ground-breaking on The Busy Signals, but it's not meant to. This is a pop record for pop fans who don't need their power pop dressed up by expensive producers fishing for a hit single. This is a pop record for everyone who knows the difference between pop-punk and punk-pop, but doesn't really care anymore. This is the pop record you'd probably wish for if you were given 1,433 wishes or so.

INK 19: Pop music is not an insult. Some of the greatest songs ever written originated as radio friendly, hummable mainstream bits of happy fun. "I Want You To Want Me" by Cheap Trick, "Wouldn't It Be Nice" by The Beach Boys, "That'll Be The Day" by Buddy Holly and anything from the first few Beatles albums. It's just Pop Music -- period. Somewhere along the line all of these extra adjectives have been tacked on to help us all explain and define how a band sounds. Not just to compartmentalize the music, but to carve a nice little niche for ourselves that we're comfortable being inside.

Chicago's The Busy Signals torpedo the boundaries of modern music, and bring it all back down to its basics. Their self-titled Dirtnap Records release is 12 songs of fun, catchy, singable words and danceable music. It's got modern shades of punk rock and glam with hints of early R.E.M. mixed in, but in its soul is the powerest of pop.

Frontwoman Ana McGorty leads her boys with the ease of Debbie Harry (complete with the romance with a band member -- she and bassist Jeremy Thompson are dating/have dated), and it's her sexy, darker Belinda Carlisle voice that will be the first element of this band to grab you. Once hooked, "So Pointless," "Got It All Wrong" and "Look the Other Way" are sure to sink you. - Jen Cray

LEFT OF THE DIAL: Not unlike the Checkers, these speed pop furies unleash a manic but slightly flattened out Buzzcocks vibe, with vocals that could be an echo of Chrissie Hyde. However, Ink 19 posits that the singer is a darker, sexier version of Belinda Carlisle, but whose lips want to be sealed anyway? Plus, I don’t think Analucia will end up in Playboy, like Belinda’s bottled blond locks. No doubt, this riff-centric, force-field busting, rock’n’roll mania is the flavor of the moment as thriftstore hipsters discover the pure thrust, efficiency, and adrenalin of “yeah yeah” old skool pop punk exploding like the plastic inevitable. It’s furiously contained in two minute capsules (just like FM in the 1950s), has all the Ramones swagger, gusto, and dead-on frenetic fuzz, zigzagging guitars, and bursting bubblegum bounce for a generation thoroughly bored by the offerings of the Shins and Spoon — snail-paced dinosaur indie rock. Choice tracks include the jukebox jig “Got it All Wrong,” which combines lovely little guitar poignancy with shredding vocal suss and chopstick splintering drum smacks, and the dueling vocal trade-offs of “Matter of Time,” which crushes the gender bending. Sure, there’s not a whole lot of invention, but why invent the wheel when you can hit cruise control and bob your head till one’s spine quivers? Already big in Japan, they are heading East to prove that the Runaways could have used nitrous in their tanks instead of that sludgy Hollywood boulevard glam gunk.

MOVEMENT: The Busy Signals are a power pop / melodic punk band originated from Atlanta, GA who relocated to Chicago, IL. With ballsy female vocals, vigorous guitar rips and catchy beats the Busy Signals reinvent the late 70’s and early 80’s cult punk scene. Admitting there is no rush for stardom, the Busy Signals’ primary influences are from bands that were only popular by just a few songs. With that being said, every song on their self titled cd seems to be mastered after B-sides or one hit wonders from the power pop genre. Songs such as "Got it All Wrong" or "Uh-Oh" bring flashbacks of dirty punk clubs, black jeans, thick eyeliner and dusty 1980’s records. Although The Busy Signals don’t quite live up to the success of modern day pop punk, they do retaliate with one force to be reckoned with – old school originality.- Mia Carlin

ORGAN: Catchy energetic electric punky power pop. New Wave early Blondie and early Buzzcocks and wound-up-tight ’77 flavoured punk-pop

SPIN: Record geeks and punk-diva ringer bring power-pop fury.Halfway through "Plastic Girl," the opening track on the Busy Signals' debut, a Buzzcocks riff gives way to a hot and sweaty X-style harmony between throaty singer Ana McGorty and bassist Jeremy Thompson. The jittery guitars and get-in-get-out solos that follow on "Stereo" and "So Pointless" are also dazzling, but it's McGorty's voice that may rocket this band out of the seven-inch singles set, fluctuating between a fragile pout and seen-it-all boredom. Sneering, "You aren't worth my time / You aren't worth my nickel and dime" on album closer "Ring Ring Ring," she sounds like a girl you'd lick a sticky bar floor to get back. JASON BUHRMESTER