**1/2 Tuscadero

MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY

(Elektra)

With a girl/boy line-up and indie-rock past that mirror the recently broken-up Veruca Salt, DC's Tuscadero have a model of sorts on which to base their transition from darlings of the underground to major-league players. Dark, distorted guitars rub up against bright shiny harmonies infused with just a touch of liberated attitude on My Way or the Highway, Tuscadero's second CD and their first big-budget production job. Call it empowered pop, which really isn't a hell of a lot different from the beat the Go-Go's embraced more than a decade ago when they first emerged from the LA punk scene. In fact, there's a strong retro new-wave current running through the best tunes here: a squiggly synth line pops up in "Freak Magnet," a tight and bouncy little number about attracting the wrong element; and the faux funk groove and cool sax soloing on the anti-fashion single, "Paper Dolls," are cheesy in a charming sort of way.

-- Matt Ashare