Great melodic punk is getting hard to find these days. Thankfully, Kansas City's Get Up Kids haven't let the post-Green-Day glut of sound-alike SoCal pop-punk deter them. Generally lumped into the Emo category, the Kids produce a glorious mix of crunchy power chords, melodic bass lines, and drums pounded as only a hormone-laden post-adolescent can. The lyrics are charmingly self-obsessive, but let's just chalk that up to too much testosterone. Be sure to catch them before they grow out of it.

Susan Gale