Discover a Lovelier You

The best damn band in the entire world, Pernice Brothers, has returned with their fourth studio album of gorgeous power-pop, "Discover a Lovelier You," and it is everything a Pernice fan could ask for. I've been a huge fan of the band since discovering 2001's "The World Won't End," easily one of the best albums of the decade, and there is no better summer soundtrack than a new Pernice record. It's a shame the band doesn't release a new album every June.

I'm at the point of fanatacism where Pernice could take a 40-minute dump and record it and I'd still likely proclaim it gold, but he really is unbelievable. Admittedly "Lovelier You" is probably their most uneven disc to date, as there are a couple of slow tracks that are quite boring, but the up-tempo tunes and phenomenal hooks (how come nobody else can write songs like these?) save the record - expect to see the album on many a year-end top ten. I'm sure it'll be on mine, considering "Yours, Mine & Ours" topped my 2003 list.

The Pitchfork review was predictably obnoxious, PopMatters enjoyed it but felt the band could do better, and AllMusic sweats the shit out the album.

Bottom line, Joe Pernice writes aurally stunning power-pop and has the greatest voice in all of music - even when he's not at the top of his game he still writes better songs than 99% of musicians out there. If you somehow don't like this music, you may as well end it all, because it doesn't get any better.