The High Score

This is a perfectly stunning release from this noisy little quartet from the great state of Tennessee. The High Score manages to take every known genre of rock and compound it into one solid mass of power pop. The group dabbles in everything from dissonance to straight-ahead roots rock, keeping their biting sense of humor just below the surface.

The beauty of it is that it's not cold and calculated---there's a true spirit of rock which is usually absent from contemporary groups who tend to lean nostalgic. They're having fun, and one listen to the song Motley Who is proof enough: "I must have been 13, me and my Walkman roaming the streets, what's a skinny little white kid supposed to do, but listen to Motley Crue." Meanwhile, they take on Clash-era punk with Baby Take A Look At Yourself and big guitar classic rock with Let It Go. As an revered philosopher once said, "You can't stop rock-n-roll."

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