It seems inevitable that Tyvek will end up in a real studio making hi-fi recordings that clean up the over-saturated guitars and boost leader Kevin Boyer's voice into some clearly recognizable place. But it will be a waste. Fast Metabolism, a ten-track, 24-minute collection of some of the band's early recordings, sold initially as a CD-R, is likely as lo-fi as the band will ever get. It is also impossible to imagine what might be accomplished by putting Boyer in more traditionally accomplished settings. His melodies are quick and joyous, the kind where the lyrics only charm on in the aftermath of the melody on account of the speed with which they go by as much as their audibility. More, his voice is the kind of high, reedy type that punches through whatever is around it, a cool, collected bark tinged with distant youthful sweetness on the edge of being swallowed by punk insouciance -- perhaps a halfway point between the Mountain Goats' tape hiss-accustomed John Darnielle and the fragile happiness of Yo La Tengo's James McNew, especially in that band's Condo Fucks variation. Tyvek is punk in its most modern iteration. "Can you drive a Honda like I can drive a Honda?" Boyer asks insistently on "Honda," the call-and-response of hip-hop (or something even poppier) coming naturally to his playful romp. Compact songs like "Give It Up" come front-loaded with sauciness -- "I spent too many nights at home," Boyer spits catchily, "I spent too many days at school" -- and backed up by a deep chorus. The American garage punk underground is a functionally infinite place in the early 21st century, and Kevin Boyer has fast staked a place as one of its most exciting songwriters. ~ Jesse Jarnow, Rovi

1		Needle Drops
2		Frustration Rock
3		Give It Up
4		Air Conditioner
5		Flashing Lights
6		Future Junk
7		Mary Ellen Claims
8		Sidewalk
9		Still Sleep
10		This One Or That One
11		Honda

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