Tripping Daisy - I Am An Elastic Firecracker - Music & Performance - CD

Wedged between Jane's Addiction and the Dead Milkmen, Tripping Daisy bring a humorous, guitar-packed edge back to rock. I AM AN ELASTIC FIRECRACKER slips from tongue-in-cheek cliches of leather-clad lovers to eerie reminders of dead friends, all in a diverse grab-bag of post-punk posturing.

The album's first single, "I Got A Girl," is reminiscent of the Dead Milkmen's "Punk Rock Girl," while the retro-esque layers of "Same Dress New Day" draw on pangs of grief, and sounds like an odd mixture of Byrds and Cure guitar tones. Throughout I AM AN ELASTIC FIRECRACKER, guitarists Tim DeLaughter and Wes Berggren rip styles from near flamenco to roaring grunge. The album also showcases DeLaughter's on-target lyrics ("brush off your anger, show off your hair") and Berggren's sympathetic lead guitar.

In a genre of easy-to-pigeonhole bands, Tripping Daisy's strength is its great range.