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WHY GETTING FIRED IS NOT A DEATH SENTENCE

If I offered you $100 today, but told you that you could have $10,000 if you pass on the $100, and just wait for two years. That's all you have to do. Simply wait. Many people will take the $100. Because they are impatient, and incapable of thinking beyond this current moment. This test that was notoriously given to toddlers in the Stanford Marshmellow Experiment. Children were given a marshmellow and told they would be given two marshmellows if they waited until the researcher returned without eating the first marshmellow. Only about a third of the children waited for the researcher to return. The majority just ate that one marshmellow and then looked sad when the researcher returned without a second one. " Follow-up studies suggested children who waited were more successful in school (higher SAT scores), possessed better stress management, had lower BMIs, and had better social skills later in life." I know a guy who has been fired from more than half of the jobs he ha...

Album Review: Poison Arrows by Communique


Album: Poison Arrows
Artist: Communique
Release Date: May 18, 2004


Website/Social Media: BandcampFacebook

Sounds Like: 80s New Wave & Indie Rock

Similar Artists: Matt Skiba & The Sekrets, We Are Scientists, Gerard Way (solo), Ozma, Alkaline Trio, The Network


Review: How has this band eluded my ears for over 10 years? Communique released 3 albums on Lookout! records in the mid 2000's but it took until just a few days ago for their 2004 full-length album Poison Arrows to fall into my hands.

The band's sound is a blending of 80s new-wave & indie rock / punk. Similar to that of  We Are Scientists, Matt Skiba & The Sekrets, or Gerard Way (of My Chemical Romance). "Ouija Me" is a fun-but-morbid love song that would easily fit right next to Alkaline Trio on a pop-punk/horror compilation. While the album is definitely a solid listen as a whole, there are a few songs that really stand out including "Black Curses" and "Perfect Weapon."


Communique was actually formed by the members of another Lookout! Records punk band named American Steel who thought that the new-wave sound wouldn't be a good fit under their former name. It is also interesting to note that former Lookout! Records and Bay Area artists Green Day also experimented with a new-wave side project (The Network) around this same time with both bands releasing debut albums in 2003. Was one band inspired by the other or was it all just a coincidence? I'm definitely not pointing any fingers because the fact that both exist are good things in my opinion.

Our Score: 8.5/10 - A solid album from start to finish with a few solid singles for pop-punk fans who maybe aren't as big on the new-wave sound.


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