Are You Listening by The Not-It’s, if not, you should be

I remember asking my father something when I was a child. He responded something along the lines of I still think like I’m in my 20’s, it just that responsibility has caught up with me. It wasn’t that profound, but his point was that his mind and interests were still the same, albeit with a couple (me and my sister) new ones. That mentality is the way I see The Not-It’s. Each member of The Not-It’s has pedigree in the Sub Pop era sound and 90’s style power pop. Their latest release, Are You Listening? presents the same spirit and alt rock chords, but with the kindie sensibilities that parents need for their children.

With one foot clearly in the 90’s, The Not-It’s create crisp, crunchy rock numbers with melody and lyrics that don’t insult the intelligence of young ears. Are You Listening? is ten songs that exist in the sweet spot of kindie and power pop length. The longest song is 3:33 and the shortest is 2:13, in between, for the most part, lay happy sonic goodness that any family can listen to.

Dance With Me is a common title. However, under the treatment of The Not-It’s is a hand clapping, chorus repeating ear worm in the spirit of an alt rock “Mickey”. It’s all about dancing, moving and has a nice guitar wave of crunch to let kids know they’re rocking.

Parents will relate to Done With The Science Fair. From tasks that parent and kids do in preparing for big projects they incorporate science, weather and even Kurt Vonnegut to make a fun song.

By far the punchiest song is Don’t Feat The Dentist. The content is spot-on accurate from talking about how they clean the spots that are hard to reach and are really here to help you. The music is mosh-ish, in a kid friendly way, it never gets too freaky for the kids, but it gives them a window into the art of playing fast with precision.

Traffic Jam and Bird on a Wire are OK once you get into the song, but have muddled introductions. Traffic Jam starts out with horns honking, that and cell phones ringing are our musical pet peeves. Do not start the song that you are trying to get me to like out with something that you most likely know audiences find annoying.

The first :03 of Bird on a Wire are very similar to Apeman Hop by The Ramones. Granted the similarities are not intentional, The Ramones used apes whereas The Not-It’s used crows, but the audible difference is nil and that fact throws of my enjoyment every time I hear Bird. I love Apeman Hop and I feel like Bird is trying to psyche me out when I hear it.

The rest of Are You Listening? rebounds nicely and, from an adult’s perspective, results in a 70% success. Kids, especially the rock centric sort will take warmly to the entire disc, especially give that The Not-It’s are in the upper tier of kindie rock groups.