With the demise of Elephant 6 recently made official, it's safe to say that psychedelic pop is on its way back underground. On the great up/down genre superhighway, psych-pop seems to be tunneling deeper beneath the earth's crust, waving at metal, punk-funk, and synth-pop as they zoom past in the opposite direction. Fans of the form shouldn't fret; in roughly 12-15 years, the paisley sound of the mid-to-late sixties should be due for another resurgence. In the meantime, you'll just have to settle for quieter media attention, smaller shows, and bands with more letters in their name than fans.

Like, for instance, the Shimmer Kids Underpop Association, a Bay Area project with all the markings of vintage E6 material. In the Last Will and Testament of Olivia Tremor Control, the Shimmer Kids must've been bequeathed that band's recording equipment, as the Shimmer Kids' eight-track recordings at "The Church of the Amplifier" (aka the singer's bedroom) replicate the sun-bleached lo-fi sound of OTC. And with artwork inspired by Marvel Comics legend Jack Kirby, a Philip K. Dick quote in the liner notes, and a musical sensibility ignoring anything post-Beach Boys, the Kids appear to share a historical interest with Doss & Hart as well.

Which means The Natural Riot doesn't exactly sound like the freshest produce at the Farmer's Market, but at least they earn high marks for competence. Singer Josh Babcock's pinched voice floats over a muddy mix of your standard guitar/bass/drums while theremins, sloppy brass, gypsy strings, keyboards, and instruments unknown all make appearances. "Matadors in Red" benefits from a darker tint to its piano foundation; "The Getaway" is endearingly warbled like early Scat-era Guided by Voices; the jalopy horn section of "Like Candy, Like Poison" lends a crooked oldies feel. It's no accident, though, that all these highlights come early in the album-- The Natural Riot tapers as it progresses, becoming increasingly lost in its own fuzziness.

One thing the Shimmer Kids didn't inherit from Olivia Tremor Control, though, is the predilection for obtuse found-sound collage, making the album an easier listen, if not nearly as unique. The lyrical preciousness of "Baby Bankrobber", the Brian Wilson harmonies of "Another Planet", the Latin spicing of "Se Acabo, Le Fiesta"-- all fail to achieve more than subtle adjustments to a fairly uniform pace and sound.

Decent as The Natural Riot is, the Shimmer Kids Underpop Association can be faulted more for bad timing than for making a bad album. Five years ago (or twenty years from now), this record might've been something special in the middle of widespread zeal for the psych-pop format. Now it just sounds a bit too familiar to stand out. Underground music is in continual mutation-- unhipness tends to filter out the Johnny-come-latelys and forces the die-hards to craft ever more inventive, tight sounds to survive. The Shimmer Kids may continue to honorably wave the flag for psychedelia to a reduced audience, but they also illustrate that the sound is a ways off from resurrection.

-Rob Mitchum, November 4th, 2002