Four Hats

Specializing in the sort of airy pop that the Elephant 6 collective has brought to the turn of the century, the Chantigs deliver a fun and light album of fun pop music on Four Hats, their 2001 release. One listen to a track like "Cables and Wires" gives you a good idea of the H.R. Puffnstuff/Monkees-influenced world these indie rockers come from. Throwing in the tiniest bit of underground sloppiness that only makes them sound that much more precious, the image surrounding the Chantigs often makes it easy to forget how generally average they have the potential to be. Of course, this is not true of the whole effort, but it is quite amazing what some guitar effects and goofy vocals can do for a bland song like "Mt. Trash." But, to be fair, they are still quite the effective rockers when all is said and done. They still manage to inject life into the blander material and when they stumble on a memorable hook they milk it for all it's worth. And this is not a bad thing, as the hooks they do manage to discover are genuinely quite memorable and fun. They do have a gimmick that can become grating, but listeners should be able to get past the nostalgia and enjoy some good old-fashion rock songs.