It’s always really exciting for me to find a new great band (crowd: “Thank you, Captain Obvious!”).

It’s even more exciting when that band has one of your friends in it. This is the case with Streamline.

Mike Hogan, the guitarist and lead singer for Streamline, has been a friend of mine for about five years now. I first met him at college, since we were both Business majors and in the same classes. I could get into a long backstory about how he is a super nice guy and, while he possesses a ridiculous amount of talent, is very humble. But let’s talk music here:

The band, which formed in Rochester, NY, had been playing a decent amount of shows in the area between Rochester and Erie, Pennsylvania, since their inception; but it was around 2005 when things really started to pick up. Around that time, they cut the song ‘All I Need’ and were subsequently listened to by Sony Records.

If you’ve haven’t heard of Streamline previously, here is an idea of their talent: TheAbumProject.net named their EP, Streamline, the best EP of 2007. They have had the “Most Played Artist of the Day” on MySpace five times (they also have almost 800,000 plays on their MySpace music player). Oh, and last but not least, you may have heard of a little band called Something Corporate? Their drummer, Brian Ireland, is now Streamline’s drummer.

They have played shows at numerous colleges across the United States, including Cal Berkeley, Tulane, LSU, Louisville, and Notre Dame.

I think the best comparison is the one to Matchbox Twenty. I hear a lot of Rob Thomas’ influence in the inflection Mike uses when he sings.

I still remember in one of our Marketing classes when we had to raise money for the American Heart Association. Each group was to come up with a different technique. The group that raised the most money would win the competition. Mike’s group decided to have him put on an acoustic performance in the Student Union.

They won. By a lot.

When I threw their new EP, The Alchemist & The Arsonist, in my home theater system, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I wanted to believe that their skills had improved since the last EP, but I wasn’t sure. After all, Streamline has never come to Pittsburgh (what the hell guys?!?! C’mon!).

Once ‘Arson & Alchemy’ started, not only were my hopes met, they were exceeded a hundred fold. Every aspect of these songs is far beyond what their debut EP offered. That’s not to say their debut wasn’t good -- i loved it -- this one just blew me away that much.

From the funky sound of ‘Let Go’ to the ballad-esque ‘Thick & Thin’, these songs are just extremely well crafted. One of my favorite earlier Streamline songs was ‘Flicker’, and the song ‘Ghost’ on The Alchemist & The Arsonist seems to be focused around that same type of subject matter -- the trials and tribulations of trying to believe in someone and your future with them.

On a related final note, I had always wondered why Mike and the boys hadn’t just taken the URL streamline.com instead of streamlineworld.com. Ironically enough, I found that out last night in my Information Systems class.

So in case you were wondering as well, apparently streamline.com was a failed attempt at an online grocery store. It was too new and revolutionary for it’s time; and -- if you shop like I do -- you never know what you need until you walk by it anyways.

Moral of the story is: if you run out of eggs…go to streamline.com. If you want to hear some great tunes, streamlineworld.com is your destination.

If these guys don’t break it big, it is simply further proof as to how much unbelievable talent is passed by in favor of the next cookie-cutter one hit wonder. I seriously cannot think of enough good things to say about this group and this record, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I know Mike.

If you are a fan of this genre and there is only one album you buy all year, make it this one. Hands down.

To purchase the Streamline EP and The Alchemist & The Arsonist from iTunes, click the album artwork below:

Listen to my favorite track off The Alchemist & The Arsonist, ‘Thick and Thin’:

Streamline is: Mike Hogan (vocals/guitars), Brian Ireland (drums/vocals), Jon Scholl (keyboards/vocals), Brad Ourso (guitars), and John Viavattine (bass)

For more information on Streamline, visit www.streamlineworld.com and www.myspace.com/streamlineny.

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