Everyone likes a little moog, right? Well, The Anniversary like more than a little bit. They were one of the many, many bands on the emo/pop-punk post-New Wave bandwagon six or seven years ago, which I know isn’t a particularly resounding endorsement, but bear with me. They were among the best of that group and after a while of not really listening to them, I’ve been shocked to discover in the last few weeks that, unlike many of their contempories, their songs have actually aged pretty well.
The moog thing can get a little overwhelming and repetitive, but in small doses it gives their songs an earnest feeling that helps to differentiate them from countless Jimmy Eat World knock-offs. Their songs do tend to bleed together, but for the best variation on the same theme, check out this song from 2000’s Designing a Nervous Breakdown:
Emma Discovery
And, for a slightly different feel, my favorite song by them:
To Never Die Young – from the Split 7″ with Hod Rod Circuit (not to be confused with the far-inferior version from the album Your Majesty)
Just the right mixture of sounds, with guitars bashing away at each other, the piano humming along, and some delightfully sloppy vocal harmonies, this is the sound of a band having fun.