How Wicked We've Become

Do college professors belong in the realm of rock & roll? Well, singer/songwriter/bassist Daniel Robinson and guitarist Mark Graybill certainly think so, as evidenced by their band, Milton & the Devils Party. Both English professors at Widener University in Pennsylvania, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the duo took their name from literature (a passage from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, in case you were wondering). On their 2007 release, How Wicked We've Become, it quickly becomes apparent that the group has a thing for jangle pop, as the guitars ring out clean and lean throughout — as if it was Peter Buck or Johnny Marr sitting in as session musicians. There's certainly an '80s college rock feel to the entire album, but specifically such tracks as the album opening "Coward of the Conscience," "Have to Have Everything," and "Muse of Mundanity." With alt pop resembling saccharine sweet pabulum circa the early 21st century, a shot of early R.E.M.-esque rock is just what the doctor ordered.