Museum Mouth

Even with all of the current noisy, lo-fi post-punk trends, it's apparent with just one listen to the debut album from North Carolina's Museum Mouth that they're not simply playing a part. The line between producing something du jour and straight-up not having the resources to make anything fancier are drawn clearly, as the trio's young energy and greenness shine through their raw pop punk jangle. Singer/bassist Savannah Levin works the blasé vocals like a pro; her seeming unintentional disaffection making songs like "Jerk Girls," with its namesake, group-chanted chorus, a modern underground misfit anthem. On closer "The End of Days," she's accompanied by drummer Karl Kuehn, as the song goes from a slightly more refined, almost wistful power pop vibe into a weird, psych-y bridge and back, establishing a great jumping-off point for future releases. However, the self-consciously scrappy teen-boredom sound of Tears In My Beer isn't necessarily something they should abandon anytime soon.