Best Pop Band

Touted on All Music Guide as "the world's cutest band" and defined by that all-knowing rock-nerd Web site as "cuddlecore" (see www.allmusic.com), Bunnygrunt was St. Louis' claim to fame on the college-rock scene in the mid-1990s era, which the band dominated. After breaking up, its members went separate ways to form equally cute and cuddly bands on the local scene. Now Bunnygrunt is back, playing shows and supporting a new album, the rarities collection In the Valley of Lonesome Phil, reminding St. Louisans that the world's cutest band is also one of the world's catchiest, churning out quick pop ditties that are sure to kill themselves before they get too sweet. Bunnygrunt has been St. Louis' best pop band in the past, and Bunnygrunt is St. Louis' best pop band again, simply by reforming and being itself. Really oughta do something about that name, though.