If you've never heard of Billy Bragg, the English folk singer/song writer with a decidely political bent, go out and get some of his music! Then come back and read the rest of the review.

Okay. Discount is a punky-poppy outfit from down-under (Florida, USA). They've got nice crunchy guitars, solid bass and drums and a non-whining, sometimes snarling/sometimes lovely-voiced female singer. On their love, Billy EP they cover 5 tunes by Billy Bragg: "Accident Waiting to Happen," "Waiting for the Great Leap Forward," "A Pict Song," "Help Save the Youth of America," and "North Sea Bubble." These are all terrific songs, and Discount does a good job of transfering them to the punk-pop idiom. Standouts are "Waiting for the Great Leap Forward" (Alison's vocals rock on the final few choruses) and "Accident Waiting to Happen". My main criticism of Discount's take on these songs is that they've been flattened out a bit by the sameness of timbre and tempo that the band imposes upon them (which seems true of much "punk" music in general). Nonetheless, they clearly care about these songs, and have infused them with a type of energy that might help make them, and the ideas they contain, relevant to an audience that might not normally be inclined to listen to "folk" music.