Album Review: The Community Chest - Top Of The Hour

A mad professor's lab is a delightfully dangerous place to play, so one's fingers twiddle with anticipation when invited into local boy Adem K's playpen. To my left, there's a whole bench dedicated to Britpop ingredients. To my right, a barrage of college rock bottles are bumping away. It's as if the two styles are in a studio stand-off, with a white-coated K and his fellow nutbags gleefully romping in the middle. The resulting album, Top Of The Hour is a scuzzy, sweet distilling of everything we all love about what's on those benches.

Whether it's Poppies-tweeness on Car C, surfing a Rentals vibe on Wave Rock or celebrating Blur's Pavement obsession in Cyclops Extreme, there's a truckload of fun to be had. Now all this referencing of other bands isn't to say The Community Chest are bereft of their own ideas – perish the thought! – it's just the five-piece have been putting in the hard yards entertaining Perth audiences in various bands for years (you may remember K from his late-'90s lo-fi pop adventures with Turnstyle, who amused triple j crowds with bona-fide hits like Spray Water On the Stereo). Considering that commercial peak was some 14 years ago, it's a massive relief he's still lo-fi and fun, not writing moribund songs about the world being a horrible place. Top Of the Hour's nature is quite romantic. It's an album for people who still know – and are excited – that record stores like Dada's and Unknown Treasures still exist, stocking all of your favourite indie albums and recommending new treats.