Search - Stereotypes :: 1

This enterprising San Diego quintet delivers the goods with their debut album, aptly titled "1". Garage rock fans will fall all over themselves, from the opening staccato chords and hand claps of the incessantly catchy "The Night Before", but there is much more than meets the eye here. Check out the classic 80's big guitar sound that envelopes, "Women In Magazines", as melodic a song as you're gonna hear. You'd swear it's a lost hit. And that's the key- great songs you want to hear over and over. But there's more. There's beats mixed with acoustic guitars, drenched over distorted vocals and what sounds like a mellotron, as well as slightly Eastern European folk phrasing on "Sleepover", and then there's moody Velvet's-ish introspection on the sparse, yet compelling "Saturdays". On an album dripping with potential hits, top tracks seem to be the minor chord gem "I Know Now" and especially the driving "Come To Say Hello", but all the tracks here are should be radio perrenials. It's a sterling debut album, an embarrassment of riches. --Alan Fleagle London, England