Album Review: Best Friends Split EP by Robins/ Baltimore Cuts

Robins/Baltimore Cuts – Best Friends Split

Release Date: August 27, 2013

Sorry Girls Records

Rating: 9/10
For Fans Of: Grown Ups, CSTVT, Dikembe

Written by Ben Curttright

The Best Friends split EP is the first official release by Philadelphia-based Sorry Girls Records, though they have put out some of Baltimore Cuts’ demos over the past few months. And, for two new bands on a new label, Best Friends is an extremely well put-together release.

The A-side of the split features two new songs from Robins. “Welcome to Future City”, the opener, is emo punk at its finest; the guitars would sound at home behind clean vocals, but matching them with rough screaming instead makes for a unique feel. The ending of “Welcome to Future City” is too hardcore breakdown-esque for me, but the quality of “That High, That Quick”, their second song, more than makes up for it. “That High, That Quick” has a much more upbeat punk feel, though the cleverly tapped guitar in the verse keeps it down to earth. And, while “Welcome to Future City” over-appropriates a breakdown feel for its ending, “That High, That Quick” gets it perfectly right, building up to a screamed catharsis that reminds me a lot of a Lion of the North track. I love it.

Baltimore Cuts is a similar band musically. You can tell why these two bands are best friends right away, as they’re a classic example of birds of a feather. The only major difference in style is the vocals. Baltimore Cuts opted for clean vocals on both their tracks, with guitarist Sean Brady providing a voice reminiscent of Jawbreaker’s Blake Schwarzenbach. The lyrics are clever and on-point, and the synthesizer gives Baltimore Cuts a bit more of a 2012 revivalist feel a la TWIABP. “Arnold and Gerald Go to Julliard” has a particular emphasis on the vocals and driving guitars, whereas “Harvey Adams Ruined My Life” feels more like a building emo song, full of atmosphere.

All told, both bands put together some really strong songs here, and I hope that Sorry Girls Records ends up pressing Best Friends on a 7” instead of only making cassettes. It would definitely be worth picking up on vinyl.