“Now that Space Rock and Space Lounge and all this shit are dead, what do you call this kind of music? Kicker are two boys and two girls who I've just unfairly categorized with two pretty dated terms. But, hey, I like "indie rock" and most of you like "punk rock" and I can't think of two more dated terms. So, yeah, Kicker might very well be London's most recent answer to Yo La Tengo. But that's cool. They don't sound just like Yo La Tengo and they don't sound just like Stereolab although I'll bet that their collective membership could come up with at least five records from each band in their personal record collections. Okay, it's a little derivative. But it's still quite nice and both sides are good enough pop tunes to have been the a-side.

Now that Yo La Tengo are trying to sound like Stereolab and Stereolab are trying to sound like a Mentos ad, I welcome this single with open arms. I still collect records from both Yo La Tengo and Stereolab hoping and praying that their new material will sound like Kicker. But I'm usually disappointed. Remember when Sonic Youth started getting like that and suddenly we all discovered Polvo? I'm hoping for the same thing will happen here. So, here is Kicker with some scintillating pop music. Nice vocals, bright guitars and keys and catchy songs.J Church Newsletter, Jan 2001