The Pin-Up Girls, Taste Test: Expanded Menu

With any luck, the Pin-Up Girls' "Taste Test: Expanded Menu" on Know-It-All Records label (http://www.knowitallrecords.com) won't end up as the best album of 2004 that nobody heard. Too many of my favorite artists, like Belle and Sebastian and South, drown in the wide oceans of the American music industry. This is a relaxed effort, for the most part, colorfully strummed acoustic guitars and some crisp, starry-eyed psychedelia here and there. The best tracks are "Caress," "Pictures," and two versions of "Love X Ten," the latter so faithfully capturing '80s club nights that it feels like a prom-night hangover from 1985, which is a delightful thing. There's not a bum song in the bunch, and these Filipino kids know their hooks inside and out. Darn choruses will get stuck in your head.