Third Frequency

Vocalist Todd Wickersheim whispy, pop-friendly whine and Vedderish bellow coupled with his exceptional group's spacey, Airplane-like drone; bass-fed jazziness; Walt Mink-worthy power riffing; lightly toasted Fab4 influences; Toad The Wet Sprocket-meets-Grapes of Wrath guitar chime; and all-around jam-ability make this outstanding eight-song effort one of the better local listens released so far this year. - Al Muzer

Any rock group who can casually toss a line like "Everyone is going apeshit" into a song and make it work most certainly is onto something fresh and intriguing. This foursome from Hackensack, NJ combine impassioned vocals, a very polished production, bright, shimmering, catchy-as-hell arrangements and amazingly sharp, profound songwriting into one extremely potent package. The lyrical content for all the songs avoid safe, cliched subjects, opting for meatier game instead: such heavy topics as depression, persevering against impossible odds, rebellion gone wrong, friends being more hurtful than your enemies, and the capacity to feel as both man's greatest asset as well as biggest weakness are addressed with striking clarity and honesty. Yep, there's lots of tasty food for thought for the listener to chew and digest offered here, which is almost a very good thing. Thoughtful, intelligent, provocative rock music is no easy feat to pull off; these guys accomplish this very task with excellent results. - Joe Wawrzyniak