Casper & The Cookies

This CD’s been staring me in the face for months. Staring up at me from the bottom of a towering stack of albums on my desk at home. Exactly why it took me so long to listen to it remains a mystery (I’m scared of alliteration? I became accustomed to it acting as a foundation to the mess that is my desk?). I mean I like cookies, especially since my friend Jennifer gave me this exquisite recipe for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and I couldn’t resist another day. So it’s time to share the sharing as Casper and Co. have been very generous with a scrumptious batch of songs. The best way to describe Casper & The Cookies is kitchen sink pop because they’re all over the place. They seemingly worship a great variety of pop idols. Wonderful moments of The Beach Boys (“Summer Spider” ), Big Star (“Sid from Central Park” ), XTC (“Little Lamb”), Violent Femmes (“Oh!”) and The Damned (“Take It Away, Kathy”) all manifest themselves in the songs. And in “Kroetenwanderung” the band literally turns to the kitchen for its instruments, snapping green beans and slamming cupboards to create an organic loop that provides the rhythm. Casper & The Cookies, like their name suggests, are playful, yummy and delightfully irresistible.