Adventures of Jet - Muscle

First impressions are a bitch. First of all, the band name The Adventures of Jet just struck me as.. sophomoric. Like it was the long forgotten title of some random junior high school kids prophetic hand-drawn underground comic book that never went anywhere beyond the three friends that he "distributed" it to. The new album Muscle starts off with a little skit with some guys talking and discussing some situation that immediately lost my attention. The packaging features alot of pictures of fast cars from some era when "muscle cars" (get it? muscle cars? the album is called Muscle...) were the hot trend. So, I'm going into this thinking I've got some super crap promo CD that I've got to find a way to at least find something possibly halfway decent about. Fortunately for me, first impressions are easily flaked away. Imagine if Weezer didn't start blowing their career and Matt Sharp had stayed in the band, bringing along his full-force of Rentals keyboards and pop sensibility. Sounds good doesn't it? I thought so too. Despite their mildly annoying name, the opening skit, and my personal hangups about "manly" cars, this is a great pop-rock album. The kind that puts a smile on your face when you know that little keyboard break is coming up, or when the guitars kick back in for one final harmonized chorus. Unfortunately, much like the two Rentals albums, it does begin to drag after awhile. The band has done a good job of keeping the listeners attention by following up a slower tune with a more rocking one (see the "Home, Where I Always Lose" / "Emily Mazurinsky" combo). The vocals have a Cars-esque nasal/stuffed up sinuses sound to them at times, but not so much that you'd be inclined to write the album off. And speaking of The Cars, "Flaming Ghost" is one of the more obviously influenced tracks from said band. "The Last Ride" wraps the album up with one final dose of rock pop, as if you needed a reminder what this band is all about. When it's all said and done, The Adventures of Jet's latest album Muscle came as a pleasant surprise. The band has a firm grip on pop-rock sensibilities, a keen affection for keyboards, a nice production sound, and an earmark in my book to keep an eye on for future releases. Unless one of them drops out of the band for awhile to attend Harvard, gets his leg length adjusted, and starts writing about how "cheese smells so good", they should have a promising career of writing fun pop-rock diddies. [www.adventuresofjet.com]