Marigolds

A fine EP, Marigolds has plenty to offer in its 20 minutes. It sounds like the band is brimming with ideas, making one wonder why the Veldt weren't able to deliver another handful of songs to make a full album. "CCCP" is blissed-out pop with plenty of kick. The voice of Daniel Chavis is powerful and emotive, placed well in the mix. "She Stoops to Conquer" is crunchier, mainly due to nasty riffing from his brother Danny. The Veldt might have been cut from the same cloth as many of the United Kingdom's shoegazer bands, but his voice blows out most of his contemporaries, having more than enough range and skill to de-necessitate burial in guitars. Some might find their ears at odds with engineer A.R. Kane, bassist Moose, and Lincoln Fong's drum-heavy production, but others will just find that it provides a nice sense of immediacy. (Fong also provides bass here.) Besides, hard-hitting percussion gives it a hip-hop edge, a notion brought further to light in the sample-based incidental interludes. As with the following Afrodisiac, swipe this one up if you spot it in a used bin. Any fan of Kitchens of Distinction or A.R. Kane will be pleased and ultimately shocked that such a band would flounder in such degenerate obscurity. There isn't a weak moment here. Dig the nod to Love on the cover.