Chixdiggit

Calgary's fun-loving foursome has released another fine collection of catchy songs with an entertaining CD-ROM that features biographies and video clips to boot. Narration is supplied by a guy with an awesome deep broadcasting voice, which sounds pretty funny delivering deadpan lines like, "Teenaged Mike [Dutch born bassist Mike Eggermont] didn't have a lot going for him - he couldn't speak much English, he seemed awfully shy, and he wore checkered pants - but the kid could say rock and roll." The band likes their rock'n'roll up-tempo, their lyrics cheeky and their live shows fun and full of boyish charm, and all that comes across on this, their third album. Lead singer KJ Jansen can sing about topics like "Going to the Peelers?" and claims every city on a tour is the greatest city in the world, coming across more like Wally Cleaver than Eddy Haskell. One of the album highlights has to be " Moto Foxe," an excellent homage to '80s glam metal with suitably cheesy lines like "You got me so high I got dibs on the stratosphere." Other gems include the damn catchy echoing backup vocal refrain in "Spanish Fever," the sly storytelling of "My Dad vs. Paul McCartney" and the playful innocence of "Summer Please." There was a song on their last album called "Brunette Summer" that captures the same feeling, a feeling that just may be the essence of Chixdiggit. The songs are like the summer romances of youth: not too serious, brief but memorable and chock full of fun.