All Around (2003)

Songs of domestic surrealism, rock mythology, and the places they collide: our hearts, our heads, our beds. This punky pop-rock outfit from Baltimore seems to suffer from Anglophilia--or possibly Anglophobia--with frontguy Roman Kuebler slyly referencing the Stones ("Young Keith, he was saddled with Englishman's teeth") and Radiohead ("They're OK Computers but they'll keep me inside") in a butched-up Morrissey yodel. The triple-guitar front splits the difference between New Zealand new-wave sparkle and classic Detroit hard rock, with Virat Shukla dropping some impressive precision-strike leads. NASDAQ BLUES "All That Money (You'll Get Over It)" is a nu-depression anthem for America's sad mutual-fund investors--an audience big enough to send this puppy multi-platinum.