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things all the time," from "What to Do," winds up not sounding clever, as intended, but petty and mean.

TOM MOON
(RS 906 - October 3, 2002)

Brown University graduate Damian Kulash peppered the hard-edged power pop of OK Go's 2002 debut with tart one-liners like "Could've been a genius if you'd had an ax to grind." But the dark-minded frontman overreaches on the Chicago quartet's follow-up, even as the exuberant playing of his bandmates seems to pass him by. The guitars and drums rev to redlined speeds on "Television, Television," but Kulash's attack on TV consumption feels clichŽd. On the partly acoustic "Let It Rain," a fragile Kulash turns his malaise inward with lame lyrics like "Let it rain/Let it pour" before a chorus of "hallelujah" comes in. OK Go still know how to write a tight pop-rock song, and they have studied their idols well, especially on the Pixies-ish "No Sign of Life." But their singer might need to pop (in his own words) "another couple Klonopin" and lighten up.