Buzz Bomb!

1998's BUZZBOMB! finds Minneapolis residents Dan Sarka and Peter Daniel staying in character as the three rural Michigan brothers Jim Jim, Bobby and Alan Vandalia, but the album mostly dispenses with the crypto-mythology of the band's 1995 debut, MACH V. Instead, these 11 songs are pretty much your standard cars-and-girls power pop, complete with songs called "Big Red Catalina" and "Hey Kari G." Sarka and Daniel are graduates of the '70s school of power pop, equally fond of Raspberries-style vocal harmonies and Cheap Trick-like guitar crunch. While not terribly lyrically or musically significant, BUZZBOMB! is more than entertaining. "The End of the World," "Charity At Home" and the Beatlesque "Say I'm Sorry" are particular highlights.