Soundtrack to Your Life has an exciting feature this week: I was fortunate enough to attend the Finish Ticket show last Tuesday, and it would be a crime against humanity if I don‰’t use all of my journalistic power to rave about it.

For those of you who haven‰’t heard of Finish Ticket, your life may or not be changed by checking them out. They‰’re an indie-alternative band from the Bay Area (holla) and they‰’re some of the coolest guys on the planet forreal.

I know what you may be thinking: “but Emily…ANOTHER indie-alternative band? C‰’mon, there‰’s tons of them out there, how good can these guys really be?‰Û

My answer to you skeptics is that they‰’re different because they don’t try to be different; they‰’re humble, hard working, and let their craft speak for itself.

Each song they release is jam-packed with a refreshing balance of entertainment and production value. They put the simplicity back into good rock music, which is crucial and really sets them apart from other up-and-coming bands in the genre. Brendan also has the voice of an angel.

They recently toured with Twenty-One Pilots, a move that definitely put them on the map just in time after their EP release, When Night Becomes Day. This is their first headlining tour, and with most shows selling out they‰’re doing really well so far.

Their DC show was at U-Street, and although I have some issues with that venue (mostly about its awkwardly medium size) they managed to make their performance intimate while filling the entire room with sound. I heard that they have a sick light show as well, but the stage setup at U Street was too small to add that visual aspect of the show.

They played a good mix of old and new, adding songs from their first full-length Tears You Apart and their newer EP. Older/committed fans were able to belt out all of the lyrics while newer spectators really got into the songs and caught onto them easily. The crowd was crazy enthusiastic and everyone fell in love with the shared energy Finish Ticket created.

This is just kind of a rant about the rising superiority complex some music enthusiasts have, but sometimes music that has a happier/upbeat tone is dismissed for not being artful; this is exactly what Finish Ticket proves wrong. All of their songs are uplifting, but they also have an important message within them. Everyone felt this when they performed “Bring the Rain‰Û: an intense, powerful commentary on finding yourself and dealing with change as hard as it may be (of course this is just what I got from it but that kind of ambiguity is the beauty of their artistry). Finish Ticket‰’s writing, composition, and performance all culminate in a unique way that actually impacts their audience individually. Through this, their listeners really feel their purpose and connect with them on a deeper level.

Just to add icing on the cake, these guys really care about their fans. They always stick around after the show and make time for everyone, remember the fans who are dedicated to them, and make sure they reflect their gratitude all the time. When I met them after the show (the last time I saw them was almost a year ago in San Francisco) the bassist, Michael, asked me how school was going and even remembered my major. Finish Ticket doesn‰’t put on a false humility bravado. They fully appreciate their fans and actually give back to them, further fostering the crucial artist-audience relationship that‰’s often lost with increasing fame and recognition.

If you make time to recognize their artistry, you won‰’t regret it. They deserve so much recognition than they‰’ll give themselves credit for. If you are a lover of music, you will be a lover of Finish Ticket. Music that makes you happy and is meaningful enough to connect to life experiences doesn‰’t come around as often as you think it would.

Yes, I may be biased because I was lucky enough to have tacos with them as they HAND DELIVERED their vinyls all around the Bay Area, but if watching them become some of the greats in the alternative music industry means being a crazy fan, so be it.

Trust me and trust good music.

In the spirit of making a playlist for y‰’all every week, here are some of my favorites of theirs (a rather tough decision to make).