Digby

It's not only the coarseness of their rabble that keeps power-pop's jangling tunesmiths from ruling the world; they're forever looking backward and are no better for it. Louisville's Digby, however, has no unhealthy obsessions with genre pioneers such as Big Star or Squeeze. From beginning to end, the quintet's twelve-track debut, Falling Up, is a batch of joyful tuneage unencumbered by nostalgia. Aficionados of bygone lilters may object to the brassiness of band leader Paul Moeller's pipes, but it's nothing to put off most VH1 viewers. And in a landscape where a limping Weezer is the last of its species, Digby's guitar candy (backed by a far mightier label than Toucan Cove) could go a long way.