An EP appetizer before Fluid Ounces' full- length release later this year, Vegetable Kingdom is at the forefront of the next wave of piano- based pop music as pioneered by Ben Folds Five. Ha ha, just kidding! There is no "next wave" of piano- based pop music -- not if I have anything to say about it, at least. I've always thought of the piano as the instrument that your parents force you to take lessons for when you're a kid; unless you're some sort of freaking prodigy, you stop playing piano in high school, because by then, it's pretty obvious that you're going to have to play an instrument smaller than yourself if you want to be in a crappy garage band.

The other problem I have with pianos is that they don't really have the sonic range that guitars do (unless you can find some way of hooking effects pedals up to a piano-- hmm, that might actually sound interesting). As a result, most piano- based pop music sounds pretty much alike. Case in point: Fluid Ounces is pretty much just Ben Folds without the bitter- geek lyricism, the only part of Ben Folds Five for which I had any fondness. There's a bit of an old- time- barroom- player- piano feel in the title track and "Lend Me Your Ears," but that's about it for interesting flourishes. Reasonably diverting but pretty much forgettable.

-Nick Mirov