Alaska!

A compliment that Alaska! would probably appreciate is that the group does not fit neatly into either the pop-punk or the retro garage styles, which almost all alt-rockers seemed obsessed with during the early 21st century. And they continue on in this direction on their second album overall, 2005's Rescue Through Tomahawk. Although the band includes a former member of Sebadoh (bassist/backup singer Russ Pollard), Rescue sounds nothing like Pollard's former band. In fact, a tinge of Jonathan Richman circa his early Modern Lovers days can be detected on "Krystal Korpse" (especially Imaad Wasif's vocals), "Surrender" (no, not a cover of the Cheap Trick classic) sounds like either a latter-day Velvet Underground or Big Star outtake, while the album opener, "The Fury of Trees," bounces along with jagged guitar and lazy tempos. Further proof that not all of "alternative music" circa 2005 was homogenized with a bubblegum sheen. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide