Another round of rock and rye
This Seattle pop-punk band had a brief blaze of fame with a pair of albums in the late ’90s and promptly consigned themselves to a cycle of retirement and reunion. They call their commitment “full-time part-time,” reconvening every four or five years to put together an album of rocking irreverence that finds their creative batteries recharged and their band chemistry fully intact. The band’s material brings to mind Jonathan Richman, Ben Vaughn and They Might Be Giants, but they’re less child-like than Richman and less pathos-filled than Vaughn, which leaves them in a pure-pop place to write about such shared interests as insects (“Slow Slow Fly” and the wonderfully overblown “Flea vs. Mite”), cars (“Crown Victoria”) and the work-a-day world (“She’s a Nurse”). Kids will love “Crappy Ghost,” but may cry when they find out it’s not the theme song to a beloved 1970s Saturday morning cartoon they can stream on Netflix. Several of the songs rework earlier material from the Presidents, their predecessor Egg and Chris Ballew’s post-PUSA Giraffes, but all are given a completely new kick in the ass. Fans will also want to track down the live album Thanks for the Feedback, released simultaneously as part of this album’s Pledge Music campaign. [©2014 Hyperbolium] 