Remember when Vitreous Humor called it quits, ostensibly because "We don't want to become Weezer."? Back when emo hadn't quite coalesced into, well, Weezer and MyChem? Of course not, because then you'd be old like me. Trust me, it happened, even if the Weezer quote was probably a joke. Kinda.

The Triceratops Charge! (self-released)

The Triceratops is a duo from Brookyn (of course) that winds its way all around the punk and pop intersections of the 80s and 90s within the space of 15 songs. There's a nice little nod to Squirrel Bait, some lovely Touch and Go-ian noise, a couple songs that mainline Jawbox, plenty of Treepeople-ish (er, Built to Spill-ish, I suppose) messing about and some acoustic jangle just for the fuck of it. Oh, and a ten-second theme song.

The Triceratops isn't remotely interested in consistency. The 35 minutes of music here meader greatly. The production is largely lo-fi, but when edges are needed the miter is tight. The hipster vibe is high, even if the music itself is hardly twee.

Two people made this stuff, mind you. And there are bass overdubs (even the Flat Duo Jets weren't purists on that question), but mostly this is drums and guitar. Gorgeous and rough-hewn, pretty and face-smashing, the Triceratops has no idea where it's going. And this album is all the more alive for that.

Jon Worley