The Jennifer Echo, Be Dangerous on Rock Guitar

Where in the hell did this come from? (Okay, apparently from Portland, and from the ashes of Wisconsin pop-punkers Ben Grim, but you get my meaning.) Get past the goofy cover art concept (i.e., making fun of cheesy “learn to rock!” guitar instruction books), and what you’ve got in The Jennifer Echo’s Be Dangerous on Rock Guitar is possibly the most diamond-like, tightly compacted, brilliant gem of power pop I’ve heard in years.

Musically, there’re echoes of everybody who’s anybody in the realm of power pop/rock, from Cheap Trick and Big Star on through to the much-maligned Doughboys, The Stereo, and Semisonic (especially on the vocals). Every song on here combines beautiful, sweetly-sung harmonies, catchy choruses, bombastic guitars (with just a hint of hair-metal sheen showing through), earnestly sincere lyrics, and retro-sounding keys/synths, and the result is utterly amazing.

The detailed rundown: “The Last Disaster” comes off defiant and rocking, with keyboard melodies the Rentals would kill to have thought up; “There’s A Halo” is darker and a little melancholy while remaining unrepentantly poppy (and heck, I don’t even mind the occasional klunky lyric); “The Feeling” is the closest the Jennifer Echo gets to emo, with its pleading vocals and pretty guitar lines, like Jimmy Eat World covering the Gin Blossoms; and “Edna Avenue” is the album’s crowning moment, an anti-ode to the historical landscape of a failed relationship with a chorus so simple and arrestingly catchy it makes my jaw drop.

Be Dangerous on Rock Guitar is like eating candy (really good candy, actually): no matter how many times I listen, I want to hear it all again (the EP clocks in at 14:03, by the way, which makes that part easier), and no matter how loud I turn it up, I still want it louder. More, please.