Dustin Kensrue....

When Sarah told me that Thrice was a band I really had to check out, I was not optomistic. I do not, repeat, do not like hardcore bands. They are some of the silliest bands around, taking themselves so damn seriously, like their pain really matters. Well, when 30 year olds start writing lyrics that I could write (and buddy, I couldn't write lyrics if my life depended on it), then you've all hit a new low.

But for some god forsaken reason, I decided to try this band. And...and at first I liked two songs on their latest album, Vheissu. Two songs grew to four songs, which grew to about 7 songs....you know where this is going. Now, Vheissu is a completely different album from their previous ones, so I was very hesistant to try any of the others out, for fear that I wouldn't think much of them. Why do I fear shit like that? I don't know, just do.

When I finally recieved both The Artist In The Ambulence and The Illusion Of Safety, I could finally say I had nothing to be worried about it. These guys, while still be a kind of emocore type band, could actually play to their expansive strengths in that sound. They could be epic, yet still hard. Most bands can never come close to that, but these guys did this with ease.

But it wasn't till I went to Water Is Poison, which is what seems to be the best fan site on the band out there, that I really saw what these great songs could be. In their audio section, you can find a few different acoustic sets that Dustin Kensrue, lead singer, performed. And when I tell you that this guy is now in my Top 5 of songwriters, which have been home to Rivers Cuomo, Anna Waronker, Ben Folds, Matt Sharp, PJ Paslosky and Sarah Saturday at one point in time or another.

As long as they're cool with me linking the songs, here are the few that I think everyone should be listening to:

"Radio, Radio"
"Bob Marley Medley"
"Stare At The Sun"
"Cold Cash And Colder Hearts"
"Prodigal"
"Artist In The Ambulence"

Download those few songs, and then try to tell me that this guy isn't one of the most talented, but under the radar singers (for the first two)/songwriters (the last four).