Album Reviews

Portland, OR’s Dark/Light should appeal not just to punks, but also to fans of the X-Men universe with their self-described style of ‘mutant punk’. Not sure what that means exactly, but these songs sound pretty sweet nonetheless. Throughout the eight songs that make up “Kill Some Time”, Dark/Light dish out gritty, garage-y punk that sound like it was recorded back in the 80’s.

Opening track “In Our Dreams” is highly addictive and fast and the way the dual vocals - courtesy of Candy Schramer and Justin Schramer - almost stumble over one another in their enthusiasm can be chalked up as another plus. They might want to work on adding some more variety in their vocal melodies next time, but it’s not like it gets annoying anywhere.

With surf (“Cold Weather Music”)) and jangle pop (“Monday In The Clouds”) touches spicing things up alongside big hooks and just a helluva lot of energy, “Kill Some Time” has a lot going for itself in spite of its unappealing cover.