The Exploding Hearts – Guitar Romantic
Label: Dirtnap
Style: Punk Revival, Power Pop, Rock’n’Roll
Released: 2003
My Grade: 5 stars
AMG: 4.5
Sounds like: The Clash, The Undertones, The Pink Spiders, Nice Boys


This is the best punk band to ever exist, period. They released one album, one single album before tragedy ended their career, but that one album was enough to permanently brand their sound into the hallmark of rock and roll for all of eternity. Doubt me? Go buy the album and try to deny it.

They referred to themselves as the Bay City Rollers of punk rock, and there really cannot be a more fitting description. They were catchy, fun, snotty and talented and in the world of rock ‘revival’ and copycats they stood out like the brightest pink. There was something about their style, something about their sound that did not sound like they were trying to ‘revive’ anything, they just wanted to rock and that in itself gave them a throwback sound to the heyday of nineteen-seventies punk rockers.

The first song I ever heard from these guys was on a mixed-cd a friend of mine gave me, and when I reached that song, “Rumors In Town”, my eardrums burst with childlike glee and I completely forgot about the rest of the CD, pressing repeat over and over until I broke down and quickly drove into town to buy the actual album from these punk saviors. I don’t know how to explain it, but there is something in the way they held themselves in the music, something in the way they worded everything that would make you believe them perfect.

I was very fortunate to discover that my local record did actually carry this album, because they rarely carried any truly indie releases, but once I picked it up I got in my car and just sat back to listen; and the entire album was just as good, if not better, then that first song.

“Modern Kicks” literally kick starts the album with a high energy push that is sure to get the punks rocking and the rockers punking, and before you know it you forget that it is not 1977 and your not in England (well, maybe you are). You are quickly bullyed through ten songs of near perfection, with “Rumors In Town” bridging the middle of the album and the surprisingly upbeat “Still Crazy” acting as a closer and saying goodnight to the world at large.

Knowing that this is their only album and nothing will ever be released again really leaves an impression; it would be easy to call this the absolute best album of 2003, easy to call it one of the best punk albums ever, easy to call it strikingly amazing, and all of those descriptions would be 100% correct. Even if you have never been a fan of ‘punk’ or any of its sub genres you must check out this album – because it transcends punk rock straight into the pop stratosphere.

If you are a fan of amazingly crisp and beautifully sound recordings, then you must pick this album up. A pop gem almost guaranteed to be lost in the history of rock.


Reviewed by: Samuel Aaron