Audio By Carbonatix
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These kids nowadays and their band names. The Bee Eaters? Besides conjuring vague impressions of Fear Factor, the moniker seems to be yet another puke-inducing exercise in cutesy cleverness. Luckily, there’s nothing remotely glib or smirking about the Bee Eaters’ music. Hailing from the decidedly non-rapid locale of Rapid City, South Dakota, the quartet just released its self-titled debut, a brash, fun and unpretentious specimen of brainy pop that doesn’t once let its A-plus report card get in the way of busting out some synapse-attacking noise. Like a post-punk Kill Creek or a corn-fed Ted Leo, the Bee Eaters whip up a honey-sweet buzz that still has its stinger stuck firmly in the rumbling stomach of Midwestern indie rock. Ask for it by name.