West Virginia quartet
Rozwell Kid
make their
SideOneDummy
debut with
Precious Art
, a tuneful slab of fuzz-pop with its heart rooted firmly in the late '90s. The band is fronted by singer/guitarist
Jordan Hudkins
, who began
in 2011 as a solo side project of
the Demon Beat
, another West Virginia outfit for whom he was the drummer. Since then,
Hudkins
and his bandmates, guitarist
Adam L. Meisterhans
, bassist
Devin Donnelly
, and drummer
Sean Hallock
, have managed a fairly prolific output, delivering three well-crafted LPs and a handful of EPs and singles, and fielding the inevitable
Weezer
comparisons that have dogged them since day one. Yes,
do indeed share many of
's finer attributes, from their strong melodic hooks to their twin-guitar riffing, and of course there's also the undeniable sense of irony woven throughout
's 12 tracks. Still, it's hard to find fault when the songs are this catchy and fun. With their dynamic, crunchy riffs and stacked harmonies, songs like "Boomerang" and "UHF on DVD" are earworms of the first degree.
knows his way around a good-time melody and he employs this gift liberally, especially on tracks like opener "Wendy's Trash Can" and the pleasantly goofy, minute-long "Wish Man."
is also chock-full of pop culture references from Saturn sedans to South by Southwest to the aforementioned Wendy's and
Weird Al
nods. What they lack in stylistic originality,
make up for in spirit and craft, delivering a smart and highly entertaining power pop record in an appealingly familiar style. ~ Timothy Monger