Renfield Records

Considering their introduction-a jagged, shifting eulogy entitled, "The Five Second Saga," which would fit neatly on any At The Drive-In record-the Human Flight Committee don't appear to be ashamed to borrow from their influences. That's probably because the band displays a wealth of them across their turbulent six-song EP, released in late 2004 by Portsmouth-based Renfield Records. Yet for all the cribbing and co-opting these kids do, it seems to be born of a genuine restlessness and urge to explore. Not to mention, after you've finished admiring how skillfully the songs are crafted and how zealously they're performed, you've all but lost the urge to deconstruct them anyway. With clever artwork, attractive layout and mistake-free production, small business solutions presents a complete package.

The Minus Scale

Demo (2004)

unreleased

You can surmise that a band has gone emo when suddenly their song titles appear to be twice as long (and twice as oblique) as they used to be. This five-song sampler traces in reverse The Minus Scale's brief history, setting three newer tracks-all of which feature the tempo shifts, intricately-wound lead lines, and octave chords that appeal to sullen, angsty teenagers the world over-alongside two older and decidedly more poppy songs from their 2003 EP, Apathy! Apathy! The contrast is striking at first, but the band's temperamental shift appears, perhaps, to have more to do with style than substance. When on the new song "The Trouble With Normal" singer AJ's voice slides into a heartthrob falsetto as he promises, "I'll be with you," it's clear these broken boys are just swaddling their broken hearts with rougher cloth these days.

Pondering Judd

Succumb to Hell EP

self-released (2005)

At the other end of the spectrum is Pondering Judd's new self-released acoustic EP, a sleepy-eyed, softly-flannelled affair. Through a light wash of acoustic guitar and a rambling accompaniment of pedal steel and dobro, these seven songs unfold slowly, and with conspicuous gravity, like a lost hiker at night passing wearily from campfire to campfire. All the while, co-singer-songwriters Martin England and Hank Decken take pains to deliver their carefully considered lyrics with wrought sincerity. They'll launch the CD with a listening party at the Stone Church on Feb. 13.