JULY 20, 1998:
HELLO I'M A TRUCK (Framed!)

If the Beach Boys provided the soundtrack for endless summers of hopeful romanticism, Hello I'm a Truck fits the bill for endless summers of ironic detachment. Like all that is good and bad about Southern California, this Silver Lake-bred quartet revels in the yin-yang of jaded observations and goofball witticisms. Their New Wave landscape of synthetic squawks and bleeps provides the perfect setting for "End of the Summer," a slightly melancholy tale about a suburban teen suicide pact that's nonetheless great driving music. "Ultrasonic Cotton Candy" goes even further by undressing The Hook all the way down to its adrenal core. The song pounds the perfectly obvious keyboard combination deep into your drums with all the frazzled energy of a poodle that never stops yapping. Later on, the band plots a South American coup d'rock in "Airwave Paraguay," only to succumb to the sugar rush infatuation of "Double Love Chew." You could get away with describing Hello I'm a Truck as Cars protégés with a better sense of humor, but the novelty of the New Wave aesthetic is a mere accouterment to their clever songcraft. Get this one while the sun's still warm.

4 Stars -- Greg Beets