"Minority Records has taught us three things about bands from the Czech Republic: 1. They're not very good at coming up with names (see also Waawe and C). 2. Other than a faint hint of an Eastern European accent, they sound like American bands. 3. They make astonishingly good music. I liked Aquila Bert immediately, but I didn't entirely trust my response. Was I giving Point extra "credit" for their heritage? Would I have looked twice at Aquila Bert if it had come from Peoria instead of Prague? It's a tough call. In the end, it comes down to effort. I haven't heard many American bands as fervent and as frenzied as Point, and this underlying urgency adds freshness and sincerity to their music.Lovers of thick, crunchy guitar riffs will be happy; Aquila Bert is packed with robust six-string action. "Yellow Hut" offers a lovingly layered melody, while "Bibione" instills the standard slow/fast quiet/loud dynamic with heavy, abrasive chords that threaten to swamp the vocals. "Kriegswichtig" is a catchy pop song, utilizing a heavily-effected bass to give its chorus some heft. In "G R S+", the vocalist's unusually strong accent makes him sound like The Fall's Mark E. Smith, lending an oddly punkish slant to the song's constantly shifting tempo. "Herr Soul" and the anthemic "12" offer angular, abrasive highs -- "12" might even please Shellac fans -- and "Davebomber" builds from a spare, discordant melody to a thundering rhythmic juggernaut.However, Point's urgency also leads them head-first into pitfalls. Warbling keyboards and double-tracked vocals can't save "Piticko" from its bland, My First Emo Song riffs; despite some inventive stuff around the edges, the song is dull. Likewise, while most Eastern European guys probably have a better line on angst and depression than their Stateside counterparts, when the vocalist slips into raw-throated screaming mode, it's strangely disappointing. From this inventive band, you expect better. Fortunately, that's almost always what you get. Stateside listeners will be pleased by the presence of studio stalwart Kip Beelman (Unwound, Juno), who mixed the album and undoubtedly provided a little second-tier quality control. As Minority gains a foothold in the US, American bands should take care; as Point and their labelmates have demonstrated, not everything made in Eastern Europe is cheap and crappy. Though Aquila Bert is probably the weakest of the Minority releases I've heard, it definitely deserves a larger audience. It might have been made in Prague, but trust me, it'll play in Peoria."

"As college students around the country head back to campus, the usual crop of "college"/alternative bands will be there to greet them. In that sea of angst and anomie, there is Point, serving up their offering Aquila Bert. Point sounds like Blink 182, Sum 141, Alien Ant Farm, ... the list continues. The only difference being, Point is not as pop-ish. Each track ripe with distortion and mumbled vocals. For those of us who have been on top of the alt/college scene, it is reassuring to see that the music has not changed. The only thing that's changed is now this kind of music is considered to be punk. Actually, it's more like punk-lite. This one is for music fans that can remember or care to look back upon days when music was somewhere between hair and grunge. Back in the days when alternative didn't mean alternapop. People, this is for you. So, crank it up! If you feel the need, get up and thrash around. Just remember, if you whip your head around too fast, it hurts."

"Some bands can really fool you. Just listening to the first track of their album, or even the first few bars of a song, can give you a totally askew impression of their sound. For instance, listening to "Girls and Boys," the first track off of Blur's Parklife, you might get the impression they were some sort of poppy Pet Shop Boys impersonation. In a similar bit of misunderstanding, the first few bar's of Point's "Yellow Hut" brought to mind the swirling guitar layers of space-rock. Indeed, the strummed, reverberated, lush chords that open up the first track recall My Bloody Valentine more than the post-punk guitar rock of Sonic Youth, the style into which this band eventually falls. A quintet of veterans from the Prague music scene, Point have released their debut album, Aquila Bert, as a joint venture between a couple of European labels, Silver Rocket and Minority Records. As mentioned before, they play a style of post punk not totally dissimilar to the anguished guitar burn of Sonic Youth, and occasionally letting their guitar launch into the realm of space-rock. Indeed, Point's most effective songs come when they let their guitars seethe through the mix, playing around each other like a couple of squeamish children. "G R S +" and "Yellow Hut" excellent examples of the chiming, mounting, guitar thrust this band can build up. The band, however, is primarily song-based, for they never let their guitar indulgences slip into the long, droning instrumentals so prevalent in space-rock. Rather, they keep vocalist Jan Kjecar constantly employed - his vocals always return before the guitars can spin out of control. All things considered, Kjecar has a pretty decent indie rock voice. Far more melodic than the shouting style of Ian Mackaye, his voice crafts melodies that are sharp and biting but rarely stick in your head. He has a rasp in his voice that blends nicely with the guitar squall behind him, but never does he lose control and begin to scream. If you've read all that and are still sort of wondering what the hell Point sounds like, you've probably got a case. I've sort of been dodging the question, simply because I don't quite know how to describe this band's sound. They're pretty typical indie writers - they focus primarily on the guitars. There songs are often angular without being overly abrasive. Sometimes they assume the aggressive stomp of Fugazi, sometimes they have the low-key charm of Pavement, and other times they lapse into fuzzy guitar interplay a la Sonic Youth. They sound unique without being original. If Point is any indication of the kind of band Prague can produce, then there could be some awfully talented bands hiding there. And it's not that Point aren't talented, its just that they sound a bit average. Don't let them fool you.""

"This almost sounds like major label "indie rock", but without being uninteresting. It's quite something you'd expect to be released by Desoto, Dischord or Southern Records. Point describe themselves as minmalist guitar pop and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. For those of you needing big names to be sure about affording exotic records: The album was mixed and co-produced by Kip Beelman, whoes previous works include Unwound, Red Stars Theory, Juno, Built To Spill ...just to name a few. Plus: Point's song "Kriegswichtig" got played on John Peel's BBC Radio show, if that doesn´t stands for quality I dunno any better."