Punknews.org
Well I’ll be damned if I shouldn’t just up and move to Long Island tomorrow. If I wasn’t afraid of telling my parents that I dropped out of college to go live in one of the most exciting musical locales in America I just might do it.
Who are we kidding here, that’s a lie. I’d be afraid to tell my mother I skipped class, let alone dropped out to mosh. But if I just had to move anywhere, Long Island would be right up there, partially due to the music coming out of it, and Agent is no exception.
It would be easy to slam Agent on sounding a lot like their influences -- mainly Lifetime, Braid, and early Saves the Day -- if they didn’t wear them so proudly on their sleeves. Agent’s proper debut EP, I Wouldn’t Trade That for Anything is in all likelihood the best melodic hardcore album you’ll hear this year. Agent’s music sounds similar to their hometown friends Latterman, but vocally they come off sounding a lot more like the aforementioned influences creating an unexpectedly refreshing blend.
With only five songs clocking in at just over 13 minutes, I Wouldn’t Trade That for Anything seems to rush by all too quickly, unfortunately. “Anywhere Is Better Than Here” comes in tied with the EPs last song, “Too Close for Comfort,” as the album’s best tracks. Both songs share relentless energy and shout-along chorus opportunities. The second and third songs, “I’m Fucking Sick of People Leaving and Not Saying Goodbye” and “Trying My Best,” respectively, are good enough in their own right, but come off a little rushed, with the former being only a minute long. To the band’s credit, they’re heavier songs and work well enough within the time given, but Agent is clearly able to write songs over three minutes and still convey the same kind of urgency and energy.
Lyrically, I Wouldn’t Trade That for Anything focuses on being stuck either with yourself and your decisions you’ve made or the city you live in. However, optimism comes through towards the end when on “Too Close for Comfort,” vocalist Keith Pilson sings, “Ideas are being realized / We’re human beings, we can find something new to see, or say something not said / Tomorrow is a brand new day, and I’m through with sleeping where I lay.” Plus, any band that has lyrics about the virtues of bike rides automatically get a big thumbs up from me, but Agent doesn’t even need that kind of crutch to win in my books.
I Wouldn’t Trade That for Anything is a stunning debut that deserves to be in your collection. Five Stars - Ben Connolly
Mammoth Press
Do you remember the good ol’ days when emo was raspy vocals and heart felt melodies with healthy doses of skate punk guitars? Agent does. Their debut ep I Wouldn’t Trade it For Anything is frankly the shit. This is the kind of record I’ve wanted to come out every week since I wore out my copies of Frame and Canvas and Nothing Feels Good. Just pure classic mid 90’s melodic emo, back before it became a dirty word or a punch line in a Apple commercial.
There are only five songs on this ep, but it’s 13 minutes are so good you’ll find yourself hitting the repeat button over and over again. This cd was in my car stereo for two days straight with nothing else taking my time. Since I drive for a living this might be a hint at how amazing these five songs are. The lyrics focus on the emotional over the political, but with a sense of hope that’s sorely missing from modern acts. My personal favorite is
“Ideas are being realized We’re human beings, we can find something new to see, or say something not said Tomorrow is a brand new day, and I’m through with sleeping where I lay.”
Agent have made my list of bands to watch like a hawk. Hopefully they will progress while still keeping the things that make me love them so much on this ep. But even if their next record has drum machine loops or screaming or double bass breakdown, I’ll always have this ep. Like the title says, I Wouldn’t Trade That for Anything.
9 out of 10
RIYL: Lifetime, Braid, Promise Ring or early Get Up Kids - John-Michael Bond
Delusions Of Adequacy
This review surveys one pre-release track off the Agent EP : "I'm fucking sick of people leaving and not saying goodbye"
Long Island seems to be the breeding ground for bands fond of Silent Majority. They are one of Long Island's best kept secrets and unfortunately broken up. It was basically post-hardcore meets midwestern emo for those unaware. Capital is a young band that contains Silent Majority's vocalist, and it leans toward more aggressive material. Another righteous member of the new school is named The Agent, who stole my interest when I read their record label owner call them "Braid meets Lifetime."
I was happy to see that and even happier to say that's a true assessment. The grumbling bass presence and imperfect singing complete the Lifetime comparison. Leads shoot into the main riffs that remind me of Braid's chemistry when they truly rocked out.
The Agent also communicates universal emotions through the lyrics. The content draws from youth's experiences and it ties together with the music well. "I was wondering if you thought about those days as much as I? / We'd attempt to forget about life, and get on our bikes and ride."
Not bad at all.
-Brian Kraus
10/12/06 - www.adequacy.net
Geekburger
Without ever eyeing a press release or map, listeners with the slightest punk rock expertise will pinpoint the origins of Agent’s timeless and tireless sound. From I Wouldn’t Trade That For Anything’s opening, lifted-straight-from-Saves The Day’s-“Ups and Downs”-notes, Agent is clearly product of the New York/New Jersey melodic hardcore scene.
Owing a little to the swirling guitars, start-stop structures, and spit-sung vocals of melodic hardcore stalwarts and fellow Long Island natives Crime In Stereo, I Wouldn’t Trade That For Anything finds Agent closer to the urgent pace, sound, and single-mindedness of Saves The Day’s Can’t Slow Down. Simple melodic riffs with poppy intuitions complement uncomplicated drum patterns; fast fills and short-lived breakdowns pass for flourishes. The strained vocals of disillusionment and nostalgia scream youth, and I Wouldn’t Trade That For Anything’s trim five tracks in 13 minutes play to the attention span of Agent’s primary demographic. This is fast rockin' punk that pulses with emotion, perfect for solitary drives and packed-car sing-alongs alike, but is wholly enjoyable without being especially memorable or even distinct from song to song.
The EP title may as well be a reflection on the NY/NJ signature melodi-pop hardcore sound. Agent isn’t reinventing a damn thing or, hell, even offering an original twist, but this is for fun not fashion, and this satisfying tradition provides the simplest of pleasures. 6.5/10 - Patrick Braxton-Andrew
Pastepunk
Long Island's AGENT sound like everything enjoyable and predictable about melodic hardcore. That's a double-edged sword to be swinging, but hey - they immediately have a leg-up on unintelligible mosh-metal bands and the like. On I Wouldn't Trade That For Anything, the band tears through its five songs in 13 minutes, and it's a fast 13 minutes. The Phil Douglas (LATTERMAN) recording feels absolutely perfect for the band's energy (Douglas' recordings are improving exponentially with each new release), and although AGENT are a relatively young band, the group's songwriting already feels comfortable and mature.
Lyrically, AGENT mostly dwell within personal situations and reflections, and although most of passages fail to grab me, the final lines to "Too Close For Comfort" stand out with a sharp flavor -- Think fast before we plunge back into what we don't want. Conventions reinvented but still the same taste that's grown old to me, and it's still a convention no matter how you look at things. Ideas aren't being realized we're human beings we can find something new to see, or say something not said. Tomorrow is a brand new day, and I'm through with sleeping where I lay. Pull me up from falling down, and falling asleep to a sound so droning, so undeviating. My senses are about to be knocked out, I'm not getting any younger. They've heard this song so many times before that they're beginning to like it. Vocalist Keith Pilson nails the well-sung, but still scruffy delivery perfectly, guiding the listener to all necessary assurances that everything is honest and heartfelt.
It's impossible not to mention LIFETIME as a comparison to AGENT, as the band favorably tilts towards material (musically and thematically) on Jersey's Best Dancers, but you'll never get the feeling that you're listening to a copycat band with this EP. Solid stuff that should do the LIFETIME 2.0 generation proud.
Review by Jordan A. Baker - www.pastepunk.com
Delusions Of Adequacy
You may have already seen me praise The Agent in a recent MP3 review. That sparked something positive enough that I sought out the proper release. It's called I Wouldn't Trade That For Anything and as far as feel-good post-hardcore releases of this year go, it's sharing top honors alongside Polar Bear Club's EP.
The music here is organic, passionate, and most of all, honest. It's not the most polished thing out there and I can look past that. These songs actually benefit from a rawer recording. You can hear one guitarist join his counterpart in the right speaker during the opening strokes of "Anywhere is Better Than Here." What you perceive on the EP contains unmistakable elements of a live show. With bands of this nature, sometimes perfection kills it, that's my sentiment towards Latterman at least.
Fierce melodic riffs not unlike those of Hot Water Music provide a pedestal for singer Keith Pilson to spill out introspective content like "What do you know about letting go? Does time tear you up and leave scars as it goes? As your actions spoke deafeningly into mine, the bruises left on stairways running out to hide, and the dust kicked up finally subsides in time, for you to wave goodbye." The lyrics classify as words I'd sing along with not just because I've learned the words, but because I can make connections.
The Agent is one of the special bands hailing from Long Island that are responsible for a revival of sorts. Pilson describes it best on the EP: "People left but the waves came back."
www.adequacy.net
Hitlist Zine
I was expected a hardcore band with this release, but I was actually really off. AGENT from Long Island, NY is a new band showcasing their musical talents with the likes and influences of LIFETIME, GRADE, and THE GET UP KIDS. Very up-beat mid-tempo songs blended with fast almost 'pop-punkish' beats. Definitely a must for all you LIFETIME fans out there.
Hardcoremusic.be
Some bands can realy come fast, Agent is one of them, I think they formed out not that long ago, probably the winter of 2005-2006, did a few demo's and luckly got picked up by Long Islands leading punk/hardcore labels Iron Pier Records who recently released bands as Thieves & Assassins and Capital that later on signed with Revelations and they also did a release with Gracer.
Enough smalltalk, fuck these guys came fast! Just relistened the demo which was actualy pretty good sounding, this 5 tracked new EP is the top of the mountain right now. "I wouldn't trade that for anything" overloads you with smoothness and melody after melody, track after track. People that are familiar with the Long Island sound will find the likes of bands as Lifetime, Dag Nasty, Jawbreaker and Capital in the sound of Agent. At one point I thought I would get bored but then another nuff guitarriff or break started. Agents is capable to make you dream away and dig up some old memories, cool sunday eve popy hardcore that give you the first sunshine of the year feeling.
Definatly 5 songs you need to check out if you wanna keep yourself up to date about LIHC scene. This album was released by Phil Douglas from the band Latterman and released through Iron Pier obviously, got some mass attention in tons of magazines. Futhermore these guys will tour this fall and winter with Crime In Stereo and Take My Chances.[HCM]
Scenepointblank.com
I know many of you out there don't remember the grunge explosion of the early to middle 90's. After Nirvana's "sudden" success, major labels swooped down on the rain drenched city of Seattle and signed everyone from Soundgarden to Seaweed in hope that maybe their label would find another alternative rock goldmine to strip for all its worth. Well, for every Nirvana success story there was at least 100 other bands that were given a major label contract and had very little success in the mainstream market. These bands were dropped; many broke up and never recovered from their losses.
Ever since the grunge explosion imploded it seemed that every year there was a new musical Mecca somewhere in the United States that was carelessly dubbed the "Next Seattle." From Berkeley, California to Austin, Texas over to Chapel Hill, South Carolina, to even my home stomping ground of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Major rock magazines like Alternative Press and Spin were talking about these "great" bands no one has ever heard of like Green Day, Superchunk, The Cows, and Mineral. However, major labels for the most part learned their lesson from the whole Seattle thing and only picked the most popular bands to join their ranks that would go on to sell millions with very few exceptions. Some bands even actually said "No" to the lucrative contracts and realized they could live fine on their own laurels.
Even though major labels are only taking the best of the best from respective scenes I still hear about this city or that city being the "Next Seattle." The latest of these cities in located on an island, Long Island to be exact. The majors have already made their millions hawking the loud pop songs of Taking Back Sunday and Brand New to a crop of swooped haired sad children with overactive LiveJournal and mopey-eyed Myspace accounts. However there are a quite a few great bands still playing VFW halls and basements on Long Island and even though each band is a little different from the next, they all have a common love of melodic emotional hardcore.
Agent is another excellent addition to the burgeoning Long Island hardcore scene. They do play intricate melodic hardcore akin to Crime in Stereo, Take My Chances, and Capital but also add in some Midwest emo from the earlier part of this century. The lead singer of Agent is a dead ringer for the dude from Braid as he yelps through five tracks about riding bikes, getting sick of the same old same old, and being far away.
Agent is a good band. I have no major complaints and the songs are catchy. They flow through some crazy guitar noodling and then into some fast parts. It's great and refreshing to hear a band remember the days of emo past and then incorporate it with Lifetime's melodic speed. I Wouldn't Trade That for Anything makes me smile, which is a rarity these days. Agent is emo but in a good-natured way. They are also a sweet band you should be listening to no matter what “Next Big Thing" city they are from.
7.5 / 10 - By Jason