Hot Fruit

Kansas City's club scene is feeling the hot, hot heat lately, with Hot Children and now Hot Fruit scorching stages. The former gets warmer, but it's the latter that matters to listeners who prefer ringing riffs to sizzling dance beats. Hot Fruit contains several members of Moxie, but whereas that quartet's catchy-hooks-and-chords approach brought to mind Josie and the Pussycats, this freshly formed trio bears more resemblance to Pink Slip, the all-about-the-solo outfit from Freaky Friday. "West of Eden," the demo's final track, produces the money shot, one of the more riveting guitar exercises to appear in a short (three minutes), sweet (more melodic than moshworthy) song from an active local band. Hot Fruit strays from verse-chorus-verse monotony, stringing together its choppy components with sharp, stop-and-start transitions. Its unorthodox instrumental approach recalls Sleater-Kinney, but whereas that group explores the artier side of indie, Hot Fruit is more about having rock and roll fun.