Take Jellyfish, Cake, Barenaked Ladies, and The Black Crowes-blend well and you get Clearly and the Mainstream. IT's LIKE... is the band's first release (not a full album, only a five song EP), and already I can see great things for this band. "Understandable" is the horn drenched opener is a woozy kick in the balls. "In Love (I'm Not)" sounds like it's been playing on MTV since I was in Junior High (it has a certain '90s pop/punk sound). The vocal harmonizing here reminds this listener of early Jellyfish. I bought the record mainly for "Motion Sensors" a loud, Black Crowes-style angry rant (think a meaner "Hard to Handle").  This song will turn your world inside out! "Dead Dog" shows off a little more depth with instrumental elements and a set of witty lyrics worthy of Andy Partiadge. Finally, "Titanic" closes the album with a song so weird/funny that it must be heard to believed. This Barenaked Ladies "If I had a Million Dollars"-type song  covers such diverse topics as the titular huge ship, the Devil, Puffy Daddy, and weather prediction. Strange, but wonderfully catchy stuff. I am desperately awaiting a full album from these boys.
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the cover of this cd blew me away before i even popped the disc into my stereo, and the music didn't disappoint.  like their packaging, catm's music is bright, original, and catchy.  keep 'em coming!
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Music: poppy and catchy, as advertised.  I cannot stop singing these tunes to myself, leading my co-workers to call my sexual orientation into question.  And there are the creative arrangments, which reveal something new every time I listen -- another harmony, another guitar line, another cool bass fill.

Lyrics: smart and honest heartbreak full of vivid imagery, like this line from Dead Dog: "She kicked me / like a dead dog spilled out all over the street."  While I don't know anyone who goes around kicking dead dogs -- or any dead dogs who kick people -- the listener knows exactly what Lurie is talking about.  Or take Motion Sensors, in which Lurie laments: "When I broke into the safe that held your heart / I found mine."  Good, solid tragedy.

And thank God this love parade is on my side of town.  (Jeeezus...)
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the power of this cd caused me to flip my ferrari and careen into the retaining wall on the bay bridge.  as the paramedics scraped me off the pavement i considered the many layeredness of what i was listening to. many of the choruses stick with me and play in my head, comforting me during my most mundane chores.
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