Earlimart

It's usually bad news to become a granddaddy at an early age. There's nothing graceful about being a 30-year-old with senior citizen lineage. But just a few albums into its career, Earlimartwears its Grandaddy-sounding status well, like an aging actor with a dignified silver streak. Seems like just yesterday that Earlimart was stirring up trouble with prickly punk tempos and ragged rock guitars. Then the California quartet mellowed and began crafting piano-driven chamber-pop nuggets with nearly translucent vocals. "Hold On Slow Down," a delicate gust of windswept pop, demonstrates how 90-second songs can engage listeners without excessive volume or velocity. Eventually, this lesson might prove invaluable to hardcore's geriatric generation.