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 Local indie rock act has a record Milky White out on Whitehouse Records. The record (and the band) are a bit difficult to easily characterize. It's basically straight-ahead rock and roll with a bit of an alterna-twinge and elements of the Beatles and 70's arena rock and a bit of folk and blues thrown in for fun. There's also an element of They Might Be Giants type of humor-rock. The band is comprised of Devin Arkin, vocals, harmonica; Tony Rogers, vocals, guitar; John Scholvin, guitar vocals; David Russell, Bass, vocals; and John Goodman (no not that John Goodman) on drums. Thematically they often concern themselves with politics, societal quirks, and religion; throughout espousing a rational and entertaining, if quirky, populist philosophy. The track "Tinky McVieux: which leads off the record (and also appeared on the Whitehouse compilation "Come in 773!") is a very catchy pop-rock tune reminiscent of Lennon/McCarthy in their better days. "Hang" has a very catchy hook and the upbeat (well, up-ish-beat) message that "a man condemned to drown can't hang..." The folk-rock tune "Builder on Graves," sounds like an improbable combination of the title track to Clint Eastwood's Spaghetti Western A Fist Full of Dollars and old REM (its subject matter reminded me a bit of Swan Swan H off of Life's Rich Pagent: a reflective and intelligent look at American history through contemporary glasses). "Harry and the Mushroom" (referring to Harry Truman and the Mushroom Cloud) is less an anti-nuclear political statement than a series of questions and reflections on history. Any adolescent can write a tirade condemning nuclear power. It is much more challenging, not to mention intelligent and less strident and childish to examine the issue from all perspectives and discuss it more in the manner of a Socratic Dialogue than the inflammatory rhetoric of a pep rally. "I know" is a condemnation of organized religion and blind faith to narrow and exclusionary creeds. It is perhaps a somewhat simplistic message, but well stated. "Shame" is one of the few current rock songs about penis size (specifically, about how it's a shame that a small penis size makes the protagonist feel inadequate.) "Evenin'" is the latest in a long line of songs about being pulled over by an over-zealous policemen. The track is funny but suffers in comparison to the Bottle Rockets "Radar Gun" the best traffic cop song to date. As if to prove their intellectual credentials the band includes a quirky post-modern grad. student type love song "I Love your Brain" ---"I'll meet you at the gates of Ayn Rand and the Beatles, Lou Reed, Orson Welles, Frank Lloyd Wright." In the end, The Good have created a record that invites the listener to think about a number of "important issues" without getting preachy or didactic about it. That it is all wrapped in catchy toe-tapping rock tunes makes the end product a delight to hear.
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