Sugarcult - Palm Trees & Power Lines - Music & Performance - CD

Emo punk is supposed to be fun, is all about fun and is fun. If you don't agree, read no further because Santa Barbara's Sugarcult is not for you and Palm Trees and Power Lines will be viewed as a waste of time. Please make your way to the easy listening section of this site (and please avoid Tom Jones Reloaded because you won't like that, either).

Meanwhile, those of us who love Blink-182, New Found Glory and American Hi-Fi will be listening to this album -- probably at earsplitting noise levels that will garner calls to the police. Which is as it should be with a brash and rowdy album such as this. Palm Trees and Power Lines is a party in a jewel box.

The album blasts off with "She's the Blade." With the renewed interest in roshambo, the song is cleverly placed in today's market. It's also a fun and goofy admission that a guy never really has the upper hand. Mick Jagger was less successful when he said She's the Boss, so the boys deserve to be given some slack -- and a listen.

That theme takes a twist with "Memory." Every boy who has ever met a girl has imagined every single step and stage of a relationship -- meeting through death do us part -- and then backed away thinking they weren't worthy. But it's never been put into music so well as this song. Sugarcult has a lot of charm and it's turned up full volume here.

"Head Up" is a straight up, stomp around the room rock riff that's full of joy, longing and optimism that makes emo what it is. There's no denying the riff -- it's worked for the best, from The Beatles to Led Zeppelin to Nirvana, and AC/DC has made a career of it. Melody gives people something to whistle, but it's the rock and roll riff that makes an audience get up and dance. It seems simple but it's missed more often than hit, but it's that life or death riff that hooks the kids into rock and roll in the first place.

Drop the disk in your computer and you get great video footage of their 2003 Eurasian tour. The interviews are good and the live sequences are better. Sugarcult has a hit with this one. Palm Trees and Power Lines is more than an obvious ode to Los Angeles. This is one of the great party albums of 2004.

By Rob Boss