Whenever I come across a band with a sexy female singer, I always wonder if perhaps my opinion of them isn’t obscured by my more piggish masculine tendencies. If ever there was a sexy front-woman, Roxy Epoxy of The Epoxies was her; singing, screaming, and damn-near yodeling lyrics that remind you of that insecure yet hip punk girl in high school you were too intimidated by to admit your teenage crush. I would like to think, however, that it is more than chauvinism and high school nostalgia that has kept this album in my CD player all month.

Released in 2002 on Dirtnap records of Seattle, WA, The Epoxie’s energetic self-titled album combines synth-pop, punk rock, and new wave into one potent, bouncy, mix. “Stop Looking at Me” and “We’re so Small” are two stand-out beauties that have already made their way to my mix tapes, but the album as a whole blows away my best mixing efforts and my tapes are set to the side when it’s time to rock. With lyrics that delve equally into lust and introspection and keep you bouncing and singing along, The Epoxies never deviate from their chosen sound and rock balls nonstop for 11 tracks.

In concert, the Epoxies dress like new wave rockers in Back to the Future II, and listening to their album the image seems to fit. With keyboards keeping pace with the driving guitars and Roxy Epoxy wailing about love trysts at the end of the world, dark city streets, and slacker teenagers, one can’t help but label them new wave. But like any band worth listening to, the Epoxies tend to defy categorization, hence the unending qualifiers when describing their sound, but somehow they manage to whip it all up into one incredibly coherent whole. The Epoxies have made a damn fine record and I, for one, am giddy with expectation waiting to see what they’ll come up with next.