NOISE BY NUMBERS – Over Leavitt (Jump Start): As a band that will have to work impossibly hard to shake itself from the shadows of ex-member legacies (I’m looking at you Dan Schafer and Jeff Dean), NOISE BY NUMBERS seems up to the task on Over Leavitt, their second full-length. I’ll describe this release as basically being mature pop-punk that sounds like the classic Lookout! sound all grown up. It’s got a feel of GREEN DAY if they focused their energies on something other than concept records, but still kept to having a monolithic sounding recording (a huge positive on this release). Trust is an important personal component at any age, and the band touches on that topic with perfect grace on “Swarm of Flies”. As complete a full-length as they come.

LANDMINES – Commerce and Marx (Paper + Plastick): There’s nothing subtle about LANDMINES – they hit hard and fast and with bluster to spare. The punk/hardcore band spiritually aligns itself with the STRIKE ANYWHERE / TRIAL BY FIRE / NEW MEXICAN DISASTER SQUAD crowd, and maybe it’s the cool black and white artwork on Commerce that’s clouding my opinion, but I swear the band has made a few nods to DISCHARGE and other 80s UK hardcore punk/crust bands as well. I’m a bit weary of the band by the album’s end, with its 13 linear-firing songs pushing 30 minutes. I feel the need for speed, but LANDMINES could stand to mix things up more from a tempo and songwriting standpoint.

SANTAH – White Noise Bed (No Sleep): No Sleep signed a band that sounds like WILCO crashing into VAMPIRE WEEKEND. The artwork booklet has no lyrics, but black and white photos of a family from what looks like the 1950s. I really don’t understand indie rock pretensions sometimes…