By Conor Hooley
What ‘90s flashbacks will you get from listening to Rubber Planet’s new EP, Wish I Could? Though the Denver-based quartet’s latest release lasts barely more than fifteen minutes, the music is crammed with enough nostalgia to recall the days when Courtney Love was still getting attention and Lollapalooza was a modest music festival with a funny name.
The influences are so up-front, in fact, that Wish I Could actually works as a choose-your-own-adventure of sorts, centered around your favorite aging (or obsolete) rock band. Observe:
If you like the Foo Fighters, queue up “Forever” and “You Move.” Both tracks carry Grohl and Co.’s characteristic sound: Lead singer/bassist Silver’s growls and wails over the group’s fast-paced, bouncy rhythms, resulting in two tunes that seriously rock without taking themselves too seriously.
If you liked Lit’s “My Own Worst Enemy,” check out “Wish I Could.” It’s the exact same sort of self-loathing power ballad backed by a memorably crunching guitar riff. However, the lyrics lack the self-deprecation that makes these songs so much fun in the first place.
Weezer fan? Skip to the end. “Molecules” is a dynamite closer; the kind of simplistic, catchy-as-hell pop-rock that could easily be mistaken for a Green Album B-side.
At the end of your adventure, you’ll find that Wish I Could is a solid effort and a really good time. It’s painting by numbers, but you won’t really care. Instead, you’ll be reminded that this kind of music, when done right, still works tremendously well.
www.myspace.com/rubberplanet
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