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PULSE OF THE TWIN CITIES-
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my two years on the job here at Pulse it’s that just when you think you’ve run out of local music to cover another exciting band pops up around the corner. A case in point: newcomers the Softrocks. With a front man (Mike Sapiro) whose got the ragged indie-rock battle cry down perfectly—not to mention an awesome hair cut—and a perfectly sympathetic Pavement-esque backing band, the Softrocks have all the key ingredients in place to become yet another local band you’ll love. - Rob van Alstyne
VOLUME ONE -
The three members serve up a volatile cocktail of energy, experimentation, and unpolished pop appeal. That’s not to say that any part of the group’s repertoire isn’t somewhat challenging. These Dudes don’t dabble in noise, they embrace it as a component of the music as important as the melody it surrounds...The Softrocks brandish an arsenal of songs that range from angular psychedlic-punk to enveloping shoegazey grunge on their new full length Summer Apocalypse. With drums and bass plowing a clear trail, front man Mike Sapiro’s guitar is given room to shriek, holler, and wail in a fury of feedback and appropriately grimy tone. All thi s pent-vigor and jittery angst almost inevitably results in comparisions to genre pioneers like sonic youth or pavement
RIFT MAGAZINE -
...transcendent.... screaming guitars...Summer Apocalypse is like heat lightning on a hot evening: sharp and intriguing.
30 MUSIC -
....Do not let this record slip through the cracks of Minneapolis' burgeoning music world, or that of any other, for that matter. Summer Apocalypse is definitely worth getting behind, singing along to, and sharing with friends.
MUSIC FOR ROBOTS -
...sunny music for the endtimes
CLEVELAND FREETIMES -
Summer Apocalypse, is the kind of release that will have every alternative publication calling (The Softrocks) a need-to-hear indie act
After spending the better part of 2007 as a revolving door membership noise collective, The Softrocks have returned to the land of actual chords and mandatory practices, but still use pretentious words like “sound shapes” and “sonic aesthetic”. Their second album, Summer Apocalypse, was recorded in Ohio by Guided by Voices/Robert Pollard cohort Todd Tobias, and features ten little indie-pop nuggets coated in just enough of the residual feedback and bleeps of their former days to keep it dangerous. 2008 looks to be a banner year for the boys as they brave the cyclones of the great plains, the oppressive heat of the Dixie sun, and the crossed arms of hipsters along the coasts, all to bring their music to a city near you.
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