For some reason, all my favorite music lately seems to be made by faux-naive non-American kids. I’m not sure that the Salteens are actually in their teens anymore, but the Vancouver-based band does a convincing job of sounding young. Their press kit calls them "an indy (sic) rock Partridge Family", but the feeling I get from Short-Term Memories is definitely more Brady (their bassist even looks like Cindy), cut with doses of the early Byrds and a bit of goofy Bacharach-inspired trumpet.

"Bubba Da" is a good example of the Salteens’ craft: tight harmonies and a catchy melody, with plenty of "yeah!"s from lead singer Scott Walker and "bah bah bah"s from the backing vocalists ("Bubba Da" is actually what they’re saying for most of the song). "Bubba Da" sounds fairly modern, but there are songs on Short-Term Memories that could have been on the radio in 1966 just as easily as now. My theory is that bands like the Salteens and Tahiti 80 represent the same thing neo-psychedelia did in the early eighties; listen to these guys, then go slap on a copy of Jet Fighter by the Three O’Clock or the Pandoras' classic first album and see if you don’t agree. It’s all about youthful energy being channeled into the present via the use of the past. Along the way, bygone music is deservedly resurrected, and something new and worthwhile comes into existence -- it works for me.