The Negro Problem

Despite an unfortunate moniker, the Negro Problem make some of the most innovative Power Pop to come out of Silverlake, Calif., since Sparkler. No, wait, since the Plimsouls. Not that they sound anything like those two bands. The Negro Problem prefer to dress up their catchy-as-hell songwriting trophies with soulful embellishments, rather than the predictable walls of distortion on the chorus subscribed to by many of their peers.