Search - Noogie :: Learn to Swim

Noogie? One might hope, for their sake, that the word these peach-fuzzed Australian lads chose for a band name would have a different meaning than it does in the States. Nope. Meet the Aussie match for Blink 182, a power-pop quartet that parallels Blink's lyrical irreverence, but without the obnoxious overtones (no bodily-functions-gone-awry jokes here). The teenaged group embodies 21st-century youth culture-skirt chasing, skateboarding, surfing. Think of Noogie as the best of all possible high school bands. Their debut is crafted in punk simplicity, and fleshed out with radio-beckoning melody and reckless harmonies. They tackle matters of the heart ("Meantime") and lost friendships ("Danger") with a believable sincerity and budding insight that escapes their precocious, emotionally overwrought contemporaries, Silverchair. Learn to Swim isn't overly wise, nor is it trying to be. Rather, it's brightly on track, sensitive enough to relax a parent's raised eyebrow, yet devilish enough to put the band in the top ranks of the cool kids. --Beth Massa