7″ Review: A new stack of music from Traffic Street Records

Sam North over at Traffic Street Records has put out a slew of new releases recently, and three of them showed up in my mailbox earlier this week.

Like Bats‘s Look On the Bright Side is a collection of anthemic punk tunes with some nice melodic hooks buried within. You’ll be able to sing along to the chorus of the titular tune after one listen through, and you’ll want to. That hot little number has to be a popular finger-pointer at a Like Bats show. The band is easily identifiable as Midwestern punk rock, sounding like the Dillinger Four material Paddy sings mixed with all the non-ska Slapstick songs. Of special note is the work of bassist Kyle, which drives this record — especially the throbbing way “Pop Tops” kicks off.