Shed

Since Title Fight's first full-length CD, The Last Thing You Forget, was largely a compendium of its previous singles and EP, Shed may be considered its first album recorded as such, though, with a running time under half-an-hour for 12 tracks, some may think of it as another EP. Group members Jamie Rhoden (vocals, guitar), Shane Moran (guitar), Ned Russin (bass), and Ben Russin (drums) rarely devote as much as three minutes each to these punk rock songs, with the guitars slashing out simple chords and the rhythm section shifting tempos, sometimes seemingly without intending to. Rhoden's voice is a husky, nasal shout, the better to express punk attitude, though he can turn philosophical, as he does on "Where Am I?" ("Maybe there's nothing, only this moment"). Many bands get more sophisticated, or at least tighter, as they become more technically accomplished, thereby losing some of their punk edge. That hasn't happened to Title Fight yet, who still sound like they're learning their way around their instruments on Shed, and continue to be fresh, if somewhat semi-professional. ~ William Ruhlmann