Garden Variety - Knocking the Skill Level...

This past week I spent some time trying to track down material from Headhunter/Cargo related artists. The "expedition" led me to find the Long Island trio of Garden Variety. The band released two albums, the self-titled for Gern Blandsten and their sophomore/final album Knocking the Skill Level on Headhunter. They also had splits with bands like Chune and Jejune. It surprises me that I had never heard of these guys before this, as the comparisons to such bands like Jawbreaker and Superchunk would lead me to believe that I would have stumbled across this band quite a bit sooner than I did. Those comparisons are fairly accurate though when listening to their earlier material and their self-titled album, which is nothing but straight forward up-tempo pop/punk. That being, On Knocking the Skill Level, the band makes a noticeable change, which was quite possibly the result of mixing the album in San Diego with Drive Like Jehu's Mike Trombino. Instead of the two to three minute spurts of all smiles pop/punk, the band crafted eleven tracks for Knocking the Skill Level that were much more focused structurally and enriched with the chaotic guitar driven intensity that was characteristic of Drive Like Jehu. Despite all the heavy influence surrounding the record, Garden Variety still holds their own thanks in large to Anthony Roman's vocals, which draw heavily from the sound that was commonly associated with most emo-core groups during that period.

Garden Variety - Chatroom Walkout [MP3]
Garden Variety - Room 183 [MP3]
Garden Variety - Soft on the Name [MP3]

It's unfortunate to see that this band didn't last longer than they did. Their second album Knocking the Skill Level is pretty solid, and sadly probably went unnoticed by most, inluding me up until this past week. The album is still available from what I can tell and can be picked up over at Cargo Music's website for those that are interested.