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Saturday, 06 January 2007 15:36

As it plays through the headphones, you can see and smell the smoke filling the coffee shop around you.

 

 

One part groove-funk, one part psychedelia, and two shakes down and dirty NYC-style dance-rock, Blue Honey, Pop Levi's American EP, is at once comfortable and refreshing. This Liverpudlian (who looks eerily similar to Kasabian's Serge Pizzorno) kick-starts the groove with the title track, a bass-heavy number. "(A Style Called) Crying Chic" is very '60s influenced and repetitious-and catchy as all hell. As it plays through the headphones, you can see and smell the smoke filling the coffee shop around you. "Mournin' Light" is pure garage rock; this one you'll want to air guitar along to. Following the down-tempo "Baby Again" (on which you are sure everyone at the opium den...err, party...was invited to contribute hand-claps of whatever tempo their inner drum moved to), the EP closes in schizophrenic sing-along style with "Skip Ghetto." There's whistling, and more clapping, and music you can genuinely tap your foot along to. While it's not the most cohesive of collections, Blue Honey shows a depth and talent that's hard to find in today's musical world of mediocrity. B+ | Laura Hamlett

RIYL: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (the older stuff, not Howl), T-Rex, Brian Jonestown Massacre