Review / 200 Words Or Less
Golden City
Golden City

Magic Bullet (2009) Jason

Golden City – Golden City cover artwork
Golden City – Golden City — Magic Bullet, 2009

This eight-song EP is completely and utterly awesome. I really wasn't expecting much from former Christie Front Drive guitar player Eric Richter since last I heard he was in the coma-inducing Antarctic. However, Golden City is just great. I'm having a hard time expressing just great these eight songs really are, but I'm going to try, really, I am.

Imagine if you will, eight songs of super catchy poppy indie rock with shimmering guitars playing simple riffs with more hooks that a Peter Pan convention. If you need band influences, think of Christie Front trying to write the best Promise Ring pop song while trying to recreate Jimmy Eat World's Static Prevails and you get just a hint of the greatness that's going on this self-titled debut EP by Golden City.

This was probably the biggest surprise to hit my review box all year and surely will by on my top 25 by year's end. Simply awesome.

9.5 / 10Jason • October 6, 2009

Golden City – Golden City cover artwork
Golden City – Golden City — Magic Bullet, 2009

Recently-posted album reviews

Opus Kink

The Sweet Goodbye
So Recordings (2026)

ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS – “Come Over, Do Me Wrong”, “The Sweet Goodbye”, “I Have to Shine My Sunday Shoes”, “Crucify!” Opus Kink sound like nobody else. To call them “jazz punk” is to massively oversimplify it. In fact, there’s not much traditionally “punk” about them. If anything, it’s “noise rock”, but with traces of almost every other genre you could name. … Read more

Sludgeworth

Second Time Around
Red Scare Industries (2026)

I never got very into Screeching Weasel and the extended family tree. Ignoring the politics of the matter, the music never really hit that sweet spot for me either. But Sludgeworth were an exception. The band released just one album, that I discovered at least 10years after its release, but seemingly disappeared -- only to resurface after a 2022 reissue … Read more

Social Distortion

Born to Kill
Epitaph (2026)

Rating: 🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🚬 / 10 (8 Tipped Martini Glasses and a Cigarette) Remember that movie Fantastic Voyage, where a miniaturized submarine gets inserted into a person's bloodstream on a mission to clear a blood clot in the brain? Well, consider yourself in luck: I’m infiltrating your brain with my own fantastic journey with Social Distortion, which goes all the way back … Read more