PlayRadioPlay! - The Frequency EP

PlayRadioPlay! is the creation of Seventeen year-old Dan Hunter, a Texas kid who has become the latest MySpace phenom. His songs have already hit over one million plays on his MySpace site without his album even being released. He's opened for FallOut Boy and secured a slot on the 2007 Vans Warped Tour. One listen to The Frequency EP, his debut on Stolen Transmission, reveals why.
Texas Straightedge Softcore

Billing himself as "Texas Straightedge Softcore", PlayRadioPlay! is like Atom and His Package without the goofiness or Apoptygma Berzerk with a bit more linear structure. It also hearkens a bit to a million club bands of the late '80s and early '90s (think of shades of EMF, Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine, and Jesus Jones had they relied heavier on Barry D's keyboard bits). All in all, this kid seems way to young to carry his musical depth.

And emo kids take note – Hunter's lyrics are heartfelt without being melodramatic. Even on tracks like "At This Particular Moment In Time", when he bemoans his inability to impress a girl because he's not yet 18, the song is painfully sincere and wistful, without ever hitting that painful wall known as emo patheticism.

The Frequency EP opens with "Bad Cops Bad Charities", PlayRadioPlay! launches immediately into his A-Pop beats and lyrics that sound like a younger version of Bright Eyes' Connor Oberst having a good day. All of it adds up to a great sweet sound that leaves you with a pleasant feeling in your tummy.

He doesn't constantly rely on manufactured beats, either. "Complement Each Other Like Colors" is a bit more organic, with synth lines accented by stripped down drums and guitars, sounding like it could have come out of garage rather than a Powerbook.

And even when he's relying on his manufactured beats, he's no one-beat pony. Unlike many synth-pop outfits, each song doesn't carry the same Casiotone demo beat. It's all carefully constructed for each song, proving that Hunter knows that simply owning the software doesn't make one a songwriter.

He closes the EP with a cover of the Killer's "Mr. Brightside", and captures all of the emotion in his stripped-down synthesized version that the big guys did in their full-blown version. PlayRadioPlay's version is easier to dance to, too!

At a time when a million kids are taking the easy emo route, it's refreshing to hear this young Texan kid put thought into his songwriting and make songs with depth and emotion, yet empty of cliché.