Safeways Here We Come

After a six-year break, the SoCal-influenced Canadians returned with a seven-song EP. Nothing much changed over their time off, and the guitar-driven material on Safeways Here We Come is the same fervent but melodic pop-punky stuff that Chixdiggit! fans have come to expect. With the band's NOFX-meets-Dickies style, Fat Wreck (more so than Sub Pop) is a perfect fit for Chixdiggit!, and their comfort level shows. It's no doubt they're having fun here, as they goofily burn through songs about lust for a girl named Gabrielle ("Hot n Horny"), a girl named after an Asian dish ("Miso Ramen"), a girl with a weird hairstyle ("Swedish Rat"), and, of course, hockey ("I Hate Basketball"). ~ Jason Lymangrover