*** Harvey Danger

WHERE HAVE ALL THE MERRYMAKERS GONE?

(Slash/London)

Harvey Danger are from Seattle, but the group have gone to great pains in their press bio to distance themselves from the region's musical geography. And with good reason: Harvey Danger are about as far away from grunge as Soundgarden were from understatement. This one-time Nirvana cover band come across as a brash, clever, pungent pop group who take their cues primarily from Jonathan Richman's Modern Lovers. And like Sloan or Possum Dixon, they manage to sound smart but not smarmy. "Carlotta Valdez" -- a nod to Kim Novak's alter ego in Vertigo -- is a bratty burst of fizz and friction. Singer Sean Nelson's hormones-in-overdrive vocals are a perfect fit for the sabotaged adolescent longing of lines like "All I ever wanted to be/Was a woolly muffler on your naked neck" ("Woolly Muffler"). It's a lot cooler when Nelson sings it.

-- Jonathan Perry