Moving Targets - Burning in Water

It's always rad to hear a band from the 80's that I've never heard of, but have obviously been pretty influential in the kind of music I love. Moving Targets was a band from Boston that was active around the mid 80's that played a really great brand of punk similar to bands like Husker Du and The Replacements. Personally, I love this style of punk. It's poppy enough for anyone to enjoy, but has enough of an edge to keep it from being cheese-ball radio rock. Moving Targets was also heavily inspired by the DC scene going on at the time (Rites of Spring, Dischord Records, you know the drill) and you can definitely hear a bit of that, especially in songs like The Other Side (which sounds like it could be a lost Rain song) and the horn laced Shape of Somethings that almost pays tribute to Nation of Ulysses. Although Moving Targets never really achieved cult status like some of the bands around them, they no doubt helped influence the pop punk/indie scene that seemed to explode in the early 90's and you can hear their sound in bands like Seaweed and others.

Anyways, all the namedropping aside, this record is great. Rocking tunes with great hooks that will be stuck in your head for days, guaranteed. Burning In Water was originally released separately in 1986, but then repackaged and rereleased with their 1989 record Brave Noise. For all the pop punk enthusiast out there, Moving Targets' song The Other Side was also featured on a split 7" with punk juggernauts Screeching Weasel in 1988. Cool!
~AB

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