Dirty Tactics- It Is What It Is (2010)

Philadelphia's Dirty Tactics are a band to look out for this year. They are gaining notoriety as one of the more exciting young bands on the punk market right now. Now, I wouldn't technically call them punk, I would slide them more to indie category. Dirty Tactics are known for their catchy melodies and sing along choruses. It Is What It Is starts off with an audio clip from an interview with The Clash about why punk rock was started. I found it kind of odd to start an album in this way but it works for this band. This band is all about melodic punk rock. My personal favorite being the track Baltimore. Baltimore starts off with a fantastic riff that just sucked me into the song. What follows is a tale of the band detailing a trip to Baltimore, at one point where they shout out "So what am I doing in South Philadelphia". The track truly was the highlight of the album for me. We also see some other genres mixed in this album.

In Side Of The Road, we are given an acoustic song with almost a Tenor vibe as one of the band's members belts out the lyrics with vibrato. The song then transits to a gritty punk feeling. My other personal favorite song on the album is Train Song, a soft relaxing melodic beauty of a song. "I missed the train again, I fell asleep at the station" It just wants you to just sit down and soak in the song and you do. We also see some electronic sounds used in Train Song. It is almost MGMT inspired. Arkansas is a mellow ditty that just flows nicely. The whole album is pretty smooth. Dirty Tactics are truly a unique band and should be heard. The album ends with the amazingly slow and smooth song Blind Man. "I'm painting you a picture with words, but you'll never see it". But Dirty Tactics have painted us a great album. If you like melodic punk music, take my recommendation and give Dirty Tactics a try.

Track Listing

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1. "When You Wake Up"- 1:51

2. "Baltimore"-2:24

3. "The Process"-1:57

4. "Side of the Road"-3:09

5. "Train Song"-3:06

6. "Highway Robbery"-2:01

7. "Secret Lives"-3:33

8. "Arkansas"-2:06

9. "It Is What It Is"-3:26

10. "Blind Man"-2:42

Baltimore (free download)

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