Strait A's featured on four-band 7"

​As Traffic Street Records continues the Dangerous Intersections series of four-band 7" compilations, they also continue their run of Minneapolis affiliations. On IV, the recently defunct Strait A's start things off with "Go Away," a hyperspeed poppy number with some incredibly catchy, and almost as goofy, "la la las". It's over in 70 seconds, which would seem exceptionally quick if all of their songs weren't so short. It's followed by Like Bats' "Sleepwalker," with gruff vocals and introspective lyrics steeped in the Gainesville sound.

Side B is led off by Tempe, AZ's Rumspringer, who play a bouncy, thoughtful punk somewhere between Jawbreaker and dim Minneapolis basements. It's a memorable song, mostly due to the repetitive "What the fuck were we thinking?" chorus. Then, in an effort to dethrone Strait A's for shortest song, Barrakuda McMurder, offers "I Broke Up [with my Girlfriend (so that I could write Pop Punk Songs about It)]," a forty-second burst of poppiness with Astoria, New York's Grath McGradden (House Boat, Steinways) on the microphone in his recognizable, Ben Weasel-ly nasal pop.

Overall, it's one of the more consistent Dangerous Intersections releases to date, with no songs carrying the dreaded "filler" label, but all playing off one another smoothly without sounding like clones. The four bands on this record exhibit pop punk's regional variance as well as its similarities across the country.