Hard Times Are in Fashion

Piano players weren’t always such pussies. When rock'n'roll began, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard used to tear shit up. It’s only in recent years that bands like Keane and Coldplay have made tickling the ivories sound so freakin’ sad. So it’s refreshing to hear Koufax barreling in behind their piano player on their third album like they’re not afraid to break a few things. Koufax’s sound is actually less Jerry Lee and Little Richard than Joe Jackson and Hot Hot Heat, but the effect is the same. “Why Bother at All?” is a potent rock stomp led by Jared Rosenberg’s insistent banging on the piano and frontman Robert Suchan’s howls of disaffection at the state of the world. U.S. foreign policy is a frequent target of Suchan’s scorn, but songs like the bouncy “Back and Forth” and the melodic “Blind Faith” never resort to mere anti-Bush sloganeering. The lyrics sometimes feel slightly awkward, but sly, funky grooves and jaunty punk-pop hooks consistently insure these Hard Times are worth enduring.