Freewheel

You'd be hard pressed to find a better chunk of bizarro-pop entertainment value than this inspired oddity from Portland's New Bad Things. Not only do they cram 18 songs into a little over 40 minutes of disc, but each and every tune is in turn crammped with a disturbed headful of wriggling squiggling sound. Guitar parts fornicate while trumpets spasm, vocals drift in and out like peculiar odors, and the whole thing ends up sounding like actual songs.

The New Bad Things aren't the first or only band to be gleefully distorting bubblegum-simple pop constructions with a funhouse mirror approach to soundcraft, but Freewheel proves they're exceptionally good at it. "Let's Everyone Do it," skips along like a cocktail hour party tune from the deck of a Bermuda Triangle crusie ship, while "Freemason" evokes the reverbed atmospherics of a Sergio Leone nightmare. "Krankenhaus" is the best scary hospital song this side of Wildman Fisher, and "Camp" lurchingly boogies along like a Twilight Zone version of "Soulfinger"."

The songs are frequently very funny, but then band never pushes it's jokey side too hard. Most impressively, despite tweaks and twists, these quirky blasts actually deliver the sweet thrill of bona fide pop satisfaction.

- Chuck Crisafulli, Option