HEY LOVER, DIRTY MITTENS, DJ COPY, DJ LINOLEUM (Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison) Hey Lover tastes like a big bowl of ultra-sweetened breakfast cereal, with enough sugar to keep you amped ’til afternoon and enough weird chemicals to turn your milk a different color. Husband-and-wife team Justin Varga and Terah Beth Baltzer Varga thrash appropriately on guitar and drums, respectively, with both supplying the singing and shrieking. Their new split release with Cafeteria Dance Fever opens with the stop-and-start “Full Costume Bible Drama,” which sounds like Quasi on a really fun meth bender [Is there any other kind?—Ed.], and continues with “She’s the Girl for Me,” a punky garage pop gem. Their 7-inch also has Hey Lover teaming up with Cafeteria Dance Fever for a couple brief freakouts that don’t sound like anything more than both bands clowning around in front of the microphone, but in general, Hey Lover’s hooks are focused enough to keep their unbridled, contagious energy from veering off the rails. NED LANNAMANN

MP3:
Hey Lover - Full Costume Bible Drama