A pot-induced, cross-culture amalgam of So-Cal punk riffs and No-Cal hippiedom, The Outer Loop actually hail from the "far east" - Newport News, Virginia. With musical musings that are initially immature, but subsequently sophisticated, their tunes bring to mind such tricksters as The Violent Femmes or The Grateful Dead, or more recently, Fountains of Wayne.

Their occasionally banal lyrical simplicity is, in fact, appealingly all too accurate, so while songs like "I'm a Bum" don't immediately bring to mind minds of wisdom, upon closer listening, they're actually quite clever.

And with straight-edged, but fast and heavy basslines pulled to the front, adding weight to what could be otherwise construed merely as a poppy jam-band album, the band deftly sidesteps the dangerous pitfall of musical evil akin to They Might Be Giants.

Unfortunately, The Outer Loop is, typically found playing summer festivals, so satisfy your urge with some free downloads off their Promo EP, available on the band's website (see above).

A. Koledin