Call The Cops - Call The Cops

June 11, 2010

Call The Cops

As the burgeoning electro-pop/rock thing continues to set the charts on fire, Orange County, California's Call The Cops, the latest signing to Myspace Records, are joining the (sugar) rush to the top of the heap. Their self-titled full-length debut may not exactly be turning the genre on its head, but it certainly puts them in scoring position with a brace of extremely catchy tracks that will undoubtedly get people moving both on dance floors and in mosh pits this summer.

If Call The Cops have one thing counting against them it's that they lack a distinct personality, and overt flavors of 3OH!3 (likely related to the two groups using the production talents of Matt Squire) the Secret Handshake, Owl City and even the likes of Ke$ha are easily detectable, but, strangely, though their lack of imagination is immediately evident, it somehow doesn't really detract from the overall effect of the record. Their hooks are so virulent, and the unconstrained energy and sense of youthful fun that drive the whole thing is so addictive that only the most determinedly miserable or elitist will fail to crack at least a slight smile in its presence–and how can that be a bad thing?

Opening up with the pop rush of "Like It Like That", they hold nothing back, and just about every track makes the grade, each one delivered with affecting sincerity. "Get Up Or Get Down" backs its ultimatum up with an ass-shaking groove that should come with a warning from the Surgeon General; "Shot Me Down" wields a chorus you'll be humming for pretty much the rest of your life; and "Room 410" is the All-American Rejects caught up in synth-mageddon.

By the time the anthemic strains of closer "Crash" bleep to death, Call The Copsprobably won't have changed your world–it might even make you feel a little sick it you subject yourself to prolonged exposure–but if you're looking for a simple, unselfconscious soundtrack to good times, this really does hit the spot nicely.