Soft Targets – We Hate You Soft Targets CD

After three years with a revolving line-up that did not allow for many live shows, Soft Targets had a lot of songs. Their debut full-length was the band’s second release of 2007 and was recorded with Kris Poulin at O.G.D.M.U in Logan Square, Chicago. Features Dan Kiss’ debut on bass which would start the longest-lasting line-up of Soft Targets up to this point, no small feat it must be said. Former Soft Targets bass player, Tina Finch, returns to help out on “Line to My Head.”

ILLINOIS ENTERTAINER
The members of Soft Targets aren’t kids, and as a result, the dozen songs on We Hate You Soft Targets reveal a maturity and gravity often missing from the repertoire of younger acts. Their post-punk sound is wholly appealing, and tunes like ‘Walk Away’ and ‘See You On The Way Back Down’ exhibit a singular blend of energy and ennui. It’s grown-up music that happily retains a youthful oomph.

TIME-OUT CHICAGO
Chicago’s Soft Targets have always been known as a supergroup—although the lineup has rotated so much that which groups make it “super” are constantly changing. Suffice to say, you’ve got alums from Seam, Lustre King, and Reagan National Crash Diet here, and a sound that veers from punky pop to the more dramatic, minimalist leanings of early Raygun/Pegboy. Tonight the band celebrates the release of its latest full-length, We Hate You Soft Targets! (the band also plays a free show at Permanent Records at 2:30 pm today). Philly’s Clockcleaner (on Baltimore’s Reptilian Records) plays music you could clean your clock to—if you wanted to bust it into little pieces, rhythmically stomp on it, and then kick it to all corners of the room.

DEMO MAGAZINE
Despite numerous line-ups since the band’s inception in the summer of 2004, Soft Targets released this cohesive album this fall. The sound is simple, straightforward pop rock (think the Toadies meet the Pixies). The band’s previous release, Whatever Happened to Soft Targets?, an EP, received positive reviews from local press. “This four piece just about nails an icy-cool, post-punk sound halfway through the Only Ones and Joy Division,” wrote Miles Raymer in the Chicago Reader. And bassist Dan Kiss, whose chugging baselines sound dirtier than the dirtiest White Stripes song, works a day job that seems unlikely for an older indie rocker: he’s a Cook County assistant public defender.