Fluf: Waikiki

Over the course of four albums, the San Diego band Fluf hasn't done an awful lot to modify its sound: Just about every song in its recorded history is a thick, blustery rock anthem marked by surging, occasionally chiming guitars and the urgent growl of enigmatic frontman O. It's a winning, if not revelatory, formula, and the band's major-label debut Waikiki milks it for all it's worth. Chunky guitars are everywhere, and there's only one notable misfire: "TV Anthem," which rails against the evils of television, of all things. Ultimately, Waikiki is far from essential—and not exactly a vast improvement over past Fluf albums—but fans will enjoy the fun-filled summertime saminess of it all. And while the kitschy, tiki-style packaging has been done to death, you have to appreciate any band that records an album in "hi-fi 3 dimensional fuckophonic sound."