Rival Schools United by Onelinedrawing

What started out as a promising project -- post-hardcore "supergroup" Rival Schools collaborating with a series of friends and like-minded artists on multiple EPs -- pretty much fizzled out as soon as it started. But not before the release of the mostly unheard and appropriately titled "Rival Schools United By Onelinedrawing," a short but sweet collection of tunes that pair the aforementioned Rival Schools with Jonah Matranga of Onelinedrawing (and Far) fame.Fans of Rival Schools and more specifically, their debut "United By Fate," will be surprised by the laid-back approach taken on this EP. Contrasting the straight-forward urgency kept by most of Rival Schools' output, tracks like "Be Real" and "Green Is Good" lend themselves to Matranga's signature heart-on-the-sleeve delivery with an appropriate fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants sensibility. One gets the sense that there wasn't too much time frittered away on arranging these tunes. Nowhere is this more evident than on the slightly out-of-tune, jangly "Where I'm From." What you hear is a group of friends jamming together and simply recording and releasing the output, proving that all the big name producers and label pressure in the world doesn't always yield the best results. This little EP is pure passion with little flare.Truth be told, you could easily fall down the rabbit hole trying to backtrack and keep up with all the different projects these guys have been involved in. But whether you are a fan of Quicksand or Far, of Gratitude or Gorilla Biscuits, you're guaranteed to find this gem worth your time. It's a true diamond in the rough in every sense of the word. Maybe it's not for everyone, but if you somehow managed to stumble upon this page, it's highly likely this listen will be worth your time.

Pretty good this from Rival Schools and One line drawing. Rival school tracks are very similar to their album while the One Line Drawing stuff is a little heavier than their album. As another reviewer put it, the whole thing does have a little 'free jazz' feel to it especially 'take one for the team'Good guitar work from both bands but I feel the vocals on Rival Schools get a little drowned out at times.Not a bad little CD. A little short thought so you may want to think about how much you are willing to pay for it.

this cd is worth it for the songs "Always" and "Be Real" alone. I was lucky enough to see Jonah play "Be Real" live and on a video (2 of the 3 times he played it live before this ep came out) and adored that song. The version on the CD is great with the Rival School guys playing as it fleshes out the song and has a great loose jazz feel (though the silly guitar lead in the chorus should not be there). The other Jonah written song is "Always" and theis songs an amazing bombastic performance by the band (one of the heaviest onelindrawing songs), and it's also an amazing song. It's little similar "Wings" from the Sensefield split.The first track is a short pseudo-instrumental, and the other 3 are Rival Schools songs with Walter singing. These songs are pretty cool but all are sort of generic beatles-esque indie orkc and get boring. the songs i've heard from United by Fate are better.

Now I know that this Jonah dude from Onelinedrawing might have had something to do with this (and God bless his emo, Pavement loving tucas if he did), but Rival Schools (featuring Walter Schrieffels -- ex-Quicksand and Gorilla Biscuits, with various other NYHC alumni) have taken Quicksand's attempts at unusual production and groove-heavy rock with understated hip-hop inflections, left out most of the silly heavy metal sonics, and come out with a record of humble, entertaining post-hardcore--just like we always wished he would. Most NYHC fans have always known that Walter was the scene's best songwriter, and it's nice to see melodicism and DC-style roots take precedence over guitar solos on this outing. Jonah of Onelinedrawing (who, according to the Some Records website, sings two of the six songs on this CD, backed by R.S.), is a little heavy-handed in the vocals department, often sounding like a pretentious and over-wraught Steven Malkmus, but even his songs are usually saved by spare but inventive production techniques that rely on shifting dynamics for variety. If you like New York post-hardcore like Quicksand, Supertouch or Eventide, if you dig DC groups like Lungfish and Soul Side, or even if you're a young pup getting off on all that new tripe everyone's pushing as "emo" lately, you should pick this up. As a step forward for Schrieffels, it couldn't sound more right--he's not reinventing himself, but not exactly treading water either. What more could you ask of him? Techno blips? Another Quicksand reunion?

well just want to say that it's not their best stuff for both of the band, but it is not bad