Man, more home recording shut-ins from Athens? Well, yeah. Have they ever let you down before? Not me. And, judging from Poems to a Pawnshop, they're not about to. The Mendoza Line have put together 12 recordings so incredibly catchy and inspiring, you'll be calling in sick to work just so you can stay home and listen to them.

There's rarely a dull or dragging moment on Pawnshop, and when there is, it ends before you notice it's there. Their pop/rock formula's nothing new (The Foo Fighters and Guided By Voices have done it all before), but what impresses is their undeniable knack for writing a good melody; songs like "This Charm," "Ice Fishing" (their adaption of Neutral Milk Hotel's classic "Avery Island"), the head-bobbing opener "I Behaved That Way" and the album's shimmering jewel, "Small Town Napoleons" are prime examples of the classic, A-Grade pop song.

Debatably, 1997 was not considered a particularily interesting year for indie rock music. The Mendoza Line are just one of many reasons 1998's looking infinitely brighter.

-Ryan Schreiber