Bob Parins and True Love Always

Bob Parins must've been some kind of drunk when he wrote The Kissing Rocks. Specializing in bizarre songs that border on novelty, Parins and True Love Always manage not to cross the kitsch line, but tip-toe on it with the stealth of a ninja. In the same lyrical vein as Jens Lekman, Parins uses obvious rhymes and simple melodies to create quirky and backwardsly brilliant pop songs. "Brush Mr Smile/check Mr Style/karate chop a few acoustic tiles"óit's almost comic, but somehow it's not. If emo music were Stephen King, Parins would be Chuck Palahniuk. If The Kissing Rocks were an ice cream flavour, it would just have to be wasabi. Pointless analogies aside, The Kissing Rocks sounds like Ted Leo, Of Montreal, and P:ano having one heck of a house party. And seriously, who wouldn't want to be at that party?

Do yourself a favour and check out "Mr Face" at the band's MySpace page (www.myspace.com/bobparinsmusic).