Copacetic (1993)

Thankfully, Maryland's Velocity Girl is not another screaming Sub Pop supergroup off of Seattle's fave indie label. On the quintet's debut album, Copacetic, front woman Sarah Shannon actually prefers to sing, thanks. Her sweet, lopsided ''La, la, la'''s lazily ride the geeky band's scrambled tunes. Unfortunately, too often the music lapses into dense sludgefests of Dino Jr slop-pop, only to be relieved by blasts of trendy, British psychedelia. These interruptions are odd — but consider that the band lifted its very name from a song by fab and groovy U.K. dance band Primal Scream. C+