Track Premiere: Carpool—’Local Joke’

Posted: by The Editor

Rochester, NY’s Carpool put their name to good use. Between last year’s I Still Blame Everything Else EP (which we premiered) and their substantial upcoming followup I Think Everyone’s A Cop, the band cram a van’s worth of styles under one roof and take them all to their sole destination. Cop is a sonic rideshare of the twinkly, the jangly, the gazey, and the punky, and the project makes it the whole ride without ever bickering or asking “are we there yet?”

“Local Joke,” which we’re premiering below, is one of the EP’s standouts and essentially the Carpool starter pack. At times it resembles the uber-melodic twinkling of Free Throw. When frontman Chris Colasanto speak-sings the pre-chorus, “looks like I’m a local joke / I fuckin’ hate last year / and everyone knows I’m broke,” it’s like a choppier, hard-nosed take on Upsides-era The Wonder Years. But then it veers unexpectedly yet gracefully into a glorious surge of crunchy shoegaze a la Nothing. Except there’s a slide guitar melody cutting through the riff that’s positively *chef kisses*.

For fans of emo’s current interest in genre-hopping tenacity, I Think Everyone’s A Cop is your game. It’s out Thursday 9/13, but you can stream “Local Joke” below:



I Think Everyone’s A Cop is out 9/13.


Eli Enis | @eli_enis


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