This is awesome. It’s like a happy frappe of jangle, pop punk, surf, and just a hint of garage and ‘90s indie. I want to say Vivian Girls by way of the Ergs for the sake of a quick and dirty comparison. Having missed the band’s first full length, Sweet Baby Jesus, this CD is great for playing catch-up, since it includes all their vinyl-only singles appended onto the end of the sophomore eleven-track LP. The LP is solid pop punk across the board (dig the “Then He Kissed” me reference on “Dumb Is Forever”), only breaking the two and a half minute mark once. The singles are a great but more eclectic lot. For instance the Art Of The Underground single has an great harmonized cover of the Descendents’ “Marriage,” while the song “Friends Forever Tour” off the Every Wall in the Parlor 7” sound like the kind of melancholy dream pop that would be at home on Slumberland. I highly recommend picking this up for the good kind of pop fix.
–Adrian (Don Giovanni)