The latest installment from Alex Pasveer and friends, who are still trying to make the world safe for 90s-style alternapop. Pasveer has yet to assemble a full-length, but he's definitely of-the-moment with his embrace of singles and the occasional EP. I mean, if you're not gonna get paid you might as well keep things as au courant as possible, right?

Charmless i Make Me Wanna EP (Bert Music/TCBYML)

So what makes Charmless i so much different than all the other bands churning out guitar-driven peppy bashers? Prolly the fact that these songs bite hard on the grooves. The hooks are long-form, often playing out over the length of the song. There is a fairly conventional verse-chorus construction, but the songs don't shift gears much. They simply churn until bliss extrudes.

I'm not sure that explanation is the most appetizing one possible. What I'm trying to say is that once the beat and bass line are established, they don't stop--or change. Sometimes they charge all the way through the bridge, even. But plenty of bands play this way. It's a long-established style, of course.

What makes Charmless i so special is the way these songs seem freshly-minted even after ten listens. They have a snap and crackle that comes from tight arrangements and sharp-yet-relaxed performances. Pasveer may never release an LP as Charmless i, but his EP history is rapidly becoming legendary. Awful fine.

Jon Worley