Music Reviews

Third Grade Teacher

Third Grade Teacher

Pinch Hit

Third Grade Teacher is a female-fronted noisy power pop band, sounding somewhat like a teaming up of Veruca Salt and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. The song structures are simplistic and the amps are turned up loud on Third Grade Teacher, making for a fairly brainless record – one which required little thought or intellectualism to enjoy.

Third Grade Teacher is made up of one good song, and ten forgettable ones. The good song, “Dusty O’Merryweather,” finds the band taking their power pop and adding angular guitars and chaotic bass and drumming. Were the entire album like this track, I would have been quite pleased. Sadly, the band chose to stay very close to the three or four chord progressions of big guitars & drums, with occasionally sung, occasionally screamed female vocals. The lyrics are pretty much the dagger in the heart of this one, as the band sings about such worldly topics as rollin’ doobies and smokin’ up. If I wanted to hear about that nonsense, I’d buy a Wu Tang record. Fans of power pop girl bands (a la Hole, Sleater-Kinney and the like) might enjoy this, but it’s very predictable and tiresome.

Pinch Hit Records: http://www.pinchhit.com/


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