All Time Low Essentials

All Time Low craft a style of pop-punk that's disarming in its tenderness and seductive in its versatility. The Baltimore group are skilled in taking their core sound—a pitch-perfect amalgam of punky energy and chunky power-pop riffage—in a dozen different directions. While the 2009 hit “Weightless” is all hard edges and driving rhythms, the same year's “Toxic Valentine” marries sweet yet punchy harmonies to choppy, dance-punk syncopation. The lone constant is Alex Gaskarth's emo-kissed wail—even on a gnarly, urgent rocker like “A Love Like War”, his voice aches with plaintiveness.