When the enigmatic Phil Thomas Katt signs off on a band (as he did when he agreed to do the video for "Big Money"), then that band has my attention. But truly, I did not need the big man's co-sign to sell me on Noiseheads EP, somehow. I just needed to hear it.
Noiseheads play an intoxicating, overdriven variety of powerpop that melds the liquid essences of Material Issue's rust-belt jangle-pop ardor and the radio storming mega-hook genius of Foo Fighters, with a dash and a splash of Superdrag and Squeeze to zest up their already savory dish to the level of a five-star, all-hits buffet.
If you couldn't guess, Noiseheads are pulling hard for that '90s thing- not only with their slacker-made-good pop anthems, but also with extra touches, like enlisting Steve Albini to "engineer" the record along with Lincoln Parish, Jordan Logue, and Nick Gray. Now that's a lot of dudes to have their hands in on one four-track EP, but it sounds like a million bucks (while obviously costing an order of magnitude less than that), so I can't argue with the results.
Noiseheads throw all their chips down on the slingshot-grooved and sweet-tooth tickling "Big Money" and don't give up the game until the final blow of the punch-drunk honey-hook haymaker "Hindsight" hits paydirt. There is no indecision or ambivalence when it comes to somehow. It knows what it is, and that's a shamelessly good, bite-sized firecracker of a rock record.
