Alli With An I - I Learned It By Watching You

I feel like the pop-punk “genre” is a metaphorical scapegoat of rock music, or sometimes to be believed non-existent. I believe it is a valid and good form, and when it is done right, it can be glorious. Many have produced great melodies and riffs, and achieved commercial success at the same time (we all can name some great tunes by Green Day, Blink-182 and the like). No doubt, Alli With An I can be classified as pop-punk. As with a lot of others in the genre, they relate to the young folk, as children of the 80s - the band name comes from a character in the fantastic Karate Kid (as I had to be informed by an esteemed SU colleague) and the album title comes from a much-parodied commercial about drug prevention. The songs tell of heartbreaking, coming-of age discord ("I’ve got a box of your old letters/ They smell like your perfume/ They used to make me shudder in my room"). The singer’s borderline-whiny yelp reeks of the strife of young adult life. Alli With an I has some catchy tunes and aren’t trying to make musical history, but I don’t think they give themselves or their listeners much credit. They’ve taken the easy road - coped riffs, bland choruses - but, there is the potential for great pop music here. And the listener has heard this before through the numerous pop-punk, sweatband clad, cutesy bands. Imagine them having an orgy and giving birth to Alli With An I. This review may seem like a swipe at them, but Alli With An I are not painful to listen to. They set the expectation pretty low, so it is easy to reach. They were born to play at the Warped Tour, and will probably make a killing at their merch table. Just don’t expect them to change your life. [www.alliwithani.com]