Mock Orange

Somewhere between its 2000 full-length, The Record Play, and 2004's stellar Mind Is Not Brain, Mock Orange graduated from the American Football School of Technical Emo and enrolled in Dr. Stephen Malkmus' program at the Academy of Triumphant Guitar. Last year's Captain Love could easily suffice as the Evansville, Indiana, quartet's senior thesis. While packed with tightly wound, hard-hitting pop tunes and six-string high fives, Mock Orange also appears to have a fetish for early-'90s slacker rock — "Song in D" resembles a more sober Modest Mouse while "Lila" envisions a slightly less stoned Built to Spill. The group's chops may not be as obvious as its earlier material showed, but with Love's purposeful melodies and creative harmonic motions, Mock Orange isn't slacking off.