And You Think You Know What Life's About

Southern California's Dishwalla are a lot like a serial killer. A la the most cunning sociopath, the group disguises dark intentions in a swirling head-swim of charming guitar notes and a volley of regular-joe vocals. It's music that fits right into a crowded playlist (witness the success of "Counting Blue Cars")--pop-gilded rock that doesn't mean any real harm. Get close enough to it, though, and its knife is unsheathed and glinting. We're talking trenchcoat-sinister. There's a tangible creepiness running through the suggestive, lumbering melodies and in the effortless, disarming murmur of front-stalker J.R. Richards. Richards somehow manages to instill threat into lines like "Staring at the wall because you know it understands" and "Nothing in motion, and I'm satisfied / No disappointment, until I wake up." Huge power chords roil and groan beneath him, enhancing the hypnotic effect--probably the same spell Mowgli felt as Kaa the python tightened his "Trust in Me" coils around him. Strange to think that Dishwalla's most intriguing feature is its, well, strangeness. But it's true! One listen to a violet processional such as "Truth Serum" and you fall in line behind it, raptly moving to the beat. And by then it's too late to escape. --Tom Lanham