Universal Pulse by 311

Universal Pulse, 311's tenth album, arrived on July 19, 2011, the first record the Omaha band released through its own label, 311 Records, alongside ATO. Bob Rock came back from Uplifter to produce, and for once every track, drums included, was cut at the Hive Studio instead of the drums being shipped off elsewhere at a label's request.

It's a quick hit: eight songs in under thirty minutes, the shortest album they have made. Nick Hexum and SA Martinez trade vocals, Tim Mahoney's guitar crunches and sparkles, and P-Nut's bass and Chad Sexton's drums keep the whole thing bouncing, with Rock's gloss buffing every edge. "Sunset in July" went out first in June, all breezy summer swagger, with "Count Me In" following in the fall. Critics mostly shrugged, and the band took it out on the Unity Tour with Sublime with Rome as co-headliners.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.