Nathaniel Green

The latest trend in punk rock is the musical antithesis to what punk has traditionally been about. Instead of loud thrashing anthems, some bands are now turning off their amps and encouraging the kids to sit and listen attentively to their music. I like to call it coffee house core - Dashboard Confessional being the best known of the genre. But these two records shows that there are no shortage of angry punk rockers that just want to chill out and show another side of their songwriting, and these records go beyond traditional whiny emo pap. Nathaniel Green features Dugong vocalist Matthew Broadbent on guitar with friend Rob Taylor filling in the sound with electric piano and organ. SOTS features the Now's Josh Jakubowski, along with Kevin Hardy, trading vocal and guitar harmonies. In both cases the records hearken back to a folkier era, when songs were more therapeutic in nature. Of course, neither band are Bob Dylan or anything, but it's nice to see that some punks still appreciate the simple things in music.