For many years now Ska and Punk, in my opinion two of the best forms of music, have been linked together tighter than any other musical bind to date. With the ever growing population of ska/punk bands on the air, some have to rise up and make themselves known. A little band out of Gainesville has done just that, risen up through the thousands, if not millions of bands, and made themselves stand out like an albino at the Million Man March.

The band of course is Less Than Jake. With dozens of releases under their belt, I've decided to voice an opinion on arguably their best album to date - Borders and Boundaries.

An album jam packed with 15 incredibly written and performed songs. Every song on this album seems like Chris (vocals) or Roger (vocals) are telling a story about the band. From Magnetic North, where Chris' raspy vocals seems to blend so well with the drumming from Vinnie, or the trombones from Buddy and Pete, or Kehoe, a song they wrote many years ago, just never threw it together in the fashion it was in on this album. This is where the story telling truly begins with Suburban Myth, a song that starts with "Let hit the streets tonight" and then belts into a short story about their lives in the small suburban city. From getting chased by the cops, to taking you back to where they play their first show, then years ago, this song is more of recollection than anything else.

Now one of the best songs on this album, Look What Happened, is a song about a road trip, and just stuff these guys do to keep from cracking under the pressure. It mentions driving past closed signs, and familiar sites, which for me especially, I can relate to with all the traveling I've been doing. It's just small town, small town, closed motel, hick town. It's gets a little to much. Now, Hell looks a lot like L.A. - a song about packing up from the hell hole you are in and moving out to LA to break. This well constructed song is probably the best on the album.

Skipping a few songs to avoid repetitiveness, one of the best constructed lyrically wise is Last Hour of the Last Day at Work, it's about a conversation between the vocalist and his father. Reminiscing of all the good advice his father gave, but he never took, and now it's lead him to a dead end.

The general feel of this album is the same as all Less Than Jake albums, but I've always been able to pop this in my discman or what have you and listen to it on loop until I get to where I need to be. If you are at all into music for lyrical content, this is a definite run through you need to take. Even just reading the lyrics you get a feel, and that's how punk rock should be.

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