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Poor Against Me!... They can't seem to catch a break. First, it started with the tire slashing when they signed to Fat Wreck Chords--nowadays, they've gone all the way to major label land. And can't go back. Ostracized by longtime fans, their only hope seems to be in the new ones they'd get. Although... I am still not sure why. The album is good. I'll admit, they seem to have kind of abandoned the folk/punk from the Reinventing Axl Rose days, but the sound they have now follows in the footsteps of Searching For A Former Clarity. It's more of a standard rock sound, but it works really well for them. It's different on a whole and sticks out, whereas an album like As the Eternal Cowboy has songs that generally run together after awhile. With New Wave, every song sticks out. That's not to say, they're all top notch. The title track is not a very effective opener, in my opinion, and "Stop!" takes a moment or two to get used to (after all, it does bear a strange resemblance to Franz Ferdinand) but, for the most part, the songs are stellar; the lyrics are good; and quite frankly, I'd rather hear "Thrash Unreal" or the aforementioned "Stop!" than the generic rhythms on your typical mainstream radio station. I just wish there was more content on the album. It's fairly short--especially when compared with Searching... and that includes the studio rendition of "Americans Abroad" that was originally seen on their--well, now not so much, I guess--recently released live album. Yet, even with those flaws, this album is great and is in my Cd player with the repeat feature turned on. I guess along with it's short nature, it is also sweet and to the point.