Last year, California punks Sweet Soul released a cassingle with two songs from their upcoming debut album (and a Chuck Berry cover), and now that album, titled So Far No Further, is set to come out this Friday (1/22) via New Morality Zine/Extinction Burst.

"Sweet Soul as a band and this record especially were strongly influenced by the mid to late '70s New York CBGB scene," vocalist Taylor says. "All of it ended up being considered 'punk' but the artists involved had so many different sounds and looks than what you would consider punk today. Just from the Ramones, Talking Heads, The Damned or Lou Reed you have so many different styles of music all meeting in one place with the same attitude. Just listening to all these different artists inspired the different types of songs you hear on the record. But they all manage to fit together in a way we really hope people enjoy.'

Taylor also adds they "wouldn’t be able to get anywhere if it wasn’t for the hardcore community and DIY culture," and that many of their current fans are in the hardcore scene due to the bills they tend to be on. The songs on So Far No Further have the strong backbone of a band who came up in the hardcore scene, but it's also a very accessible record that should appeal to people outside of the hardcore scene. You can hear some of those '70s punk influences, and you can also hear the punchy, power-poppy side of '90s punk and emo (think, like, somewhere between the Angus soundtrack and Samiam). Though the album's not officially out until Friday, you can stream the full thing right here:

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See #45-21 here.