*** Karl Hendricks Trio

DECLARE YOUR WEAPONS

(Merge)

The Karl Hendricks Trio aim to do regular-guy rock: T-shirts and jeans make up their uniforms, bare-bones guitar/bass/ drums augments their sound. But even in the world of indie rock, that's become outsider stuff -- and at first, Hendricks's delivery seems just another contrived pose. Fortunately, he backs it up with a Replacements-style sloppiness coupled with a stubborn sense of melody, keeping the emphasis on big guitars and prickly sentiments. He can be smarmy: "Your Lesbian Friends" and "The Colonel Feels Alright" stand in place while Hendricks delivers all-too-clever soliloquies. But when the rhythm section (drummer Noah Leger and bassist Caulen Kress) kick in, as on "Know More About Jazz" or "Like John Travolta," the rock outweighs the schlock.

-- Joe Harrington