SPIN Review

Looking in the new SPIN I literally stumbled upon the HCTZ review. Suprisingly, I was not looking/expecting it. It's a very good review, all glowing remarks. Without further adieu:

Alt-rock relics Local H have been down so long it looks like up to them. Wait, no, it still looks like down. Its ben six years since the Illinois band's depressive Nirvanian success, AGAD, and underappreciated main man Scott Lucas is now the ax-grinding ire Gershwin of the cut-out rack. Course, he's always hardest on himself. In the hilarious 1998 basher ATKAR, Lucas first admitted to sucking, then went on to mock alt-rock group-think. The H still packs rooms, though, because next to his I-hate-me, his we-hate-me, his we-hate-us feels kinda communal.

At the dysfunctional dinner table of emo and hard rock, Weezer's Rivers Cuomo is your loony old uncle, and Lucas is your bitter older brother. HCTZ channels common @#%$-pop ancestors, thanks to Cheap Trick and Aerosmith producer Jack Douglas, who adds some metal crunch and cranks to Lucas' earnest indie vox. "Rock & Roll Professionals" slams the biz, and the single "Half Life" dusts Weezer's equally faux-heavy "Hash Pipe" with a spinout hook and the cat-scratch chorus, "You know they hardly ever/Give a leper a chance!" Like any big bro worth his fake ID, Lucas is a dicey role model. On "Keep Your Girlfriend Away From Me," his mixed-up lust stops just short of demanding your honey wear a burqa, and his "Fifth Ave. Crazy" is a boy/girl duet that squeezes out sparks like a consensual hate-@#%$. But he turns his anger inward on the IKEA-trashin' "Creature Comforted," with its Cult-like chorus, "Hey C'mon! We're all defanged and declawed!" So true. Lucky he still has that big spleen.