All hail the simple rock riff

The Unnatural Helpers are a Seattle quartet that specializes in making brilliantly simple and rough-up rock songs with unavoidable hooks that bounce around in the consciousness long after they’ve ended.

Really, REALLY… if they’ve never gotten all over yer ears before, you need to fix that, and it just so happens they’ve just put out another totally solid elpee in the Sub Pop imprint Hardly Art Records called Land Grab.

Dean Whitmore is the drummer/singer/constant behind this band. Nothing they do is groundbreaking or new, but rather, they find ways to amplify and/or present traditions at reverse-angle. It’s not pop, it’s not punk, it’s not both smooshed together. Land Grab is full of high-energy, smart and funny tracks that oughta be anthems. “You gotta hate your teachers/It’s your duty in life” is the opening salvo in “Hate Your Teachers” which would already be a nationwide hit with teen students everywhere if they still listened to rock music. “Medication” is the anthem for the rest of us who do, so there really is something for everyone on Land Grab.