HELLOGOODBYE

Well, I think I'm in the mood for a bit of straightforward power-pop to give me a lift after two-going-on-three nights of humidity-induced sleeplessness.

I don't know a whole hell of a lot about Hellogoodbye. Until recently, I'd never heard of them - despite the fact that they apparently put out a self-titled EP in 2004 and appeared in several episodes of The Real World: Austin (now THAT's your ticket to artistic immortality).

I do know that these four guys from Huntington, CA look and sound ridiculously young (and that they look like they could only POSSIBLY come from Huntington, CA). I also know that they sound a hell of a lot like a hell of a lot of other bands. I think you might agree that "Stuck to You" (below) sounds somewhat strikingly similar to any number of Muse tunes.

Hellogoodbye's debut full-length, Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! comes out August 8 on Drive Thru Records. And the fact is: You don't have to be the most original band in the world to produce some catchy-ass songs, and there are moods for this type of music in just about all of us. Obviously, I am in one of those moods right now.

[Also, I am clearly envious of their youth, geographical location, and - one can only assume - their inherent ability at this point to lay or be laid by whoever/whomever they could ever want to lay or be laid by. Bastards.]

[MP3] "Stuck to You"

[MP3] "Baby, It's Fact"