Radio Pioneer, Radio Pioneer

I’m finding lately that I’ve got a tendency to want to dismiss the little two-song demos/samplers that occasionally appear here on my desk. “What’s the point?” I’ll catch myself asking. “Fuck, I can’t be bothered to listen to this — what the hell am I going to learn about this band in two measly songs?”

Fact is, though, that’s just me being lazy. When I take a step back, it occurs to me that I’ve bought a ton of albums based solely on the strength of one well-written, brilliant gem of a song: Rosie Thomas, Armor For Sleep, Wolfie, The Black Keys, Asian Dub Foundation, Underworld; the list could go on for pages. Sometimes a song or two is all it takes, and then you’re hooked, caught, now and (possibly, anyway) forever.

(This is, incidentally, the general idea behind the “single.” Since most songs that make it to the radio in these parts well and truly suck, however, I’d hazard a guess that all those record execs cranking out single after single have shrugged off that “well-written, brilliant gem” bit I mentioned above in favor of a “these people will listen to the sound of wet carpet molding if we tell them it’s good” philosophy. To each their own.)

So that brings me to the self-titled, two-song EP/demo from Houston’s own Radio Pioneer. I didn’t get it sent to me, mind you, but actually went right up to Dwayne Cathey, the band’s lead guitarist, after a show and asked if they had any CDs. And yet, even with that, it still took me a damn long time to get around to this disc. Which is a shame, because it’s damn good. I should mention that I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, even knowing the band’s pedigree — The Tie That Binds, Guns of August, The John Sparrow, and probably two dozen bands I never got a chance to check out — but the Radio Pioneer guys certainly didn’t disappoint.

The first of the two tracks, “Wrong From Right,” melds Mission of Burma-esque guitar lines with emo/screamo loud-soft dynamics and balances delicately-picked guitars with feet-off-the-floor hardcore fury, and while the lyrics are kind of dull for my tastes, the music more than makes up for ’em. The shining star of the disc, though, is “We Both Suffer,” which aims for the middle ground between Burning Airlines and Braid and plows right through it at full speed, eschewing the screamo in favor of a more post-punk, DC indie-rock kind of a sound. It burns in all the right places but slows down and shifts gears exactly where it needs to, and that’s a rare thing. (Oh, and weirdly enough, what the track really reminds me of is sadly-departed H-town compatriots Panic In Detroit…)

At any rate, it seems that I need to thank Radio Pioneer for getting me out of my cranky-old-man-ish “Two songs? Feh…” stage and reminding me that sometimes that’s all you really need to hear.