C+

Jacuzzi Boys: Glazin’

Jacuzzi Boys: Glazin’

There’s no better time of year to be a teenager than the summer, as demonstrated by Jacuzzi Boys’ throwback party-pop. Reveling in all things young and dumb, the Miami band covered adolescent debauchery on the 2009 debut No Seasons, but move into more innocent territory on the love-struck Glazin’. Sunny, bouncy beach-rock sets the stage for punchy tracks that capture the silly romances of youth, best exemplified in the catchy closer “Koo Koo With You.” With its cheesy-yet-charming refrain (“When I’m on your coast / you love me the most / ’cause I could koo-koo with you ’til the end”), the song follows the album’s overall formula of mixing the sentimental and nonsensical. But even if the lyrics are a bit dippy (the energetic “Cool Vapors” appears to be about air conditioning), they’re perfect for the record’s relaxed, fuzzed-out vibe, fitting right in with the lo-fi ’70s garage-psych that’s being revived by Wavves, Hunx And His Punx, Sonny & The Sunsets, and others. Compared to the gleefully scrappy No Seasons, the band has clearly put in more deliberation this time around, though some creativity has been lost in the studio clean-up: Clangy guitars, thumping drums, and no-frills keyboards make for easy sing-alongs, but other songs are too simple to have staying power. On the other hand, if the subject is teenage infatuations, “too simple to have staying power” gets it about right.

 
Join the discussion...