J'aime les filles

Of course these guys love girls (check your French-to-English dictionary) — beneath their punky exteriors and their snarky handle, the Clorox Girls come off as pure pop classicists on their third full-length album, and while the tempos are usually fast and the volume is in the upper range, these 14 songs are full of hooky enthusiasm and sound about as threatening as a 13-year-old girl talking about the cute boy in her English class. The guitars on "Stuck Inside a Hole" recall the Beatles more than the Buzzcocks, the harmonies on "Total Babe" are silky smooth and clearly no joke, the acoustic closer "Me Every Day" wears its crush-worthy heart on its ragged sleeve, and even songs with titles like "Flowers of Evil" and "Eva Braun" are far more playful than abrasive (the former with its buoyant keyboard accents and the latter with a melody that recalls Devo's warped classic "Mongoloid"). Lead Clorox Girl Justin Maurer consistently delivers the goods as both a guitarist and a songwriter, offering ripping melodies and flavorful vocals, and drummer Richie Cardenas and bassist Daniel H. Sayer give him impressive support and fine backing harmonies. And the whole thing flies by in a very efficient 27 minutes; while J'Aime Les Filles could use a bit more polish in the production department to bring out the sparkle that clearly exists in these songs, the quality of the tunes and the skill of the musicians easily win out, and the Clorox Girls demonstrate just how much they have to offer on this disc.