Cute is What We Aim For/The Dangerous Summer/Made Violent/Promise Me Scarlet

When they formed in 1998, the members of Cute Is What We Aim For weren’t concerned with sprinting through their career; they took a slow and steady approach. It wasn’t until 2006 that they released their debut album The Same Old Blood Rush with a New Touch on the pop-punk label Fueled by Ramen and after releasing their follow-up album Rotation two years later, the band broke up. Frontman Shaant Hacikyan spent the downtime ignoring the current music coming out and instead immersed in the music that inspired him in high school. With that acting as a battery-recharge, the band reformed last year and has recently released a couple of singles. (Sam Mendez)