The Carps

Scarborough, ON duo the Carps are back with their second EP, Waves and Shambles, and they haven’t strayed too far from last year’s debut, The Young & Passionate Days of Carpedia. Jahmal Tonge and Neil A. White are still pumping out synth-filled electro pop songs, and there’s still something missing from them. Sure, they’re catchy but everything about them feels forced. The rapping on "Heaven’s Gates & Hell’s Flames (ReDux)” sounds like Andy Milonakis is putting in his two cents — and including a second version of it on a six-song EP is overkill. It’s too bad the one song with a legitimate guitar riff ("Porgie & Bess”) has a chorus that chants "Big booty girls.” Without that, I might have forgiven the Carps for their earlier faults and just chalked it up to an attempt at being original.