Employee of the Month

Singer/songwriter Troy Taroy and all his bandmates are pictured at their dull, grey jobs in the booklet to Employee of the Month, an album that sounds like the quirky guys in I.T. were put in charge of indie rock. Opening with the grand "You saw the Wolfman/I'm sorry that I missed it/I saw your buttcrack/I'm sorry I kissed it," Employee of the Month is as indulgent as it is fun, but you're mercifully spared the inside jokes. Taroy paints a vivid enough picture with his sardonic and embrace-the-mundane lyrics to figure out that his "elegant estate" is an apartment with walls as beige as the ones in his cubicle. Besides being the Office Space aesthetic in song, the album rocks when it needs to (the catchy and awesome "Kava Kava" is golden age Unrest all over again), and it carries a crazy bag of tricks when it comes to production. The sonic landscape suggests Taroy's been collecting '70s eight-tracks and he's no stranger to the works of Jeff Lynne. There's a bit of Weezer in here, too, but minus the precious. Genuine moments of exuberance — like when Taroy declares he "loves America and American cheese" — add that extra something special and make Employee of the Month an uplifting, refreshing listen.