Wolf Colonel pumps out fifteen songs in less than thirty minutes with lo-fi, garage-punk bravado. Led by vocalist Jason Anderson, this four-piece is a power punk machine mixing the brevity and melody of early Guided By Voices (before the power ballads) with the assault and energy of the legendary Husker Du as well as the smarmy humor of Ween. Wolf Colonel started off, strangely enough, as a solo acoustic show for Anderson, inspired by the likes of Elliott Smith- even performing in dormitories to groups of friends. Anderson, however, quickly supplanted the singer-songwriter schtick with a fleshed-out rock band.

Anderson isn’t afraid of cheesy guitar solos or even of sounding like 38 Special or ZZ Top. His band rocks but incorporates harmonies and acoustic guitars into the mix, sounding most unlike typical cock rock bands of yore. Anderson’s voice resembles, at times, Aaron Stauffer’s from Gardener/Seaweed with its exaggerated inflections, but it also shares a similarity with Robert Pollard’s (without the fake British accent). His lyrics border on the absurd: “you smell like you’re small/I wanna stab you” (“The Indian Ocean”), which also could be attributed to the influence of Mr. Pollard. This band is something you’d want to see live; it’s rambunctious and raw.

Vikings Of Mint is Wolf Colonel’s debut full-length, but the band also has an eight-song self-titled seven-inch out on K. Anderson met Calvin Johnson at an Halo Benders show in Portland and tried to get signed by sending Johnson home-recorded cassettes. Johnson paid little attention until Anderson went electric and turned Wolf Colonel into the rocking powerhouse it is now. Vikings Of Mint is anthematic with hooks galore and enough lo-fi charm to keep it out of your mom’s record collection.