EP 1

Alternative Rock is a pretty dangerous label, huh? It's like saying emo: do I mean Drive Like Jehu, or do I mean My Chemical Romance? So with alternative: do I mean Dinosaur Jr., or do I mean Nickelback? Of course, in this case, I mean Dinosaur Jr. Anyway, this girl sent me a demo CD-R with just the first song from this EP on it about a year and a half ago; I thought it was great and played it on my show once, even though it doesn't quite fit my format, then never heard anything else from her and kind of forgot about that song until this EP showed up from local label 12XU. The music here is just under 10 minutes of Dino Jr-like, noisy-but-melodic guitar rock, filled with immediately familiar riffs and delightfully gratifying screeches and feedback. Even when she's emoting, Carolee sounds a bit like she's half asleep and singing from the next room. There are a few calmer moments, like the slower, moodier "Rainout," but I like her most when her guitar won't stop squeling. Sometimes pretty, sometimes jarring, always infectious, "EP 1" is like a more mainstream-sounding counterpart to Dino Jr-loving contemporaries like Milk Music., and anyone who thinks great rock music can't be easily accessible is just fuming 'cause they can't write a fucking rock song. I bet this girl wasn't even alive when the first Dinosaur Jr. record came out. Well, neither was I. Mastered by Bob Weston for MAXIMUM early 90s cred.