Dig: Life Like

Dig has always had the hooks, the smarts, the accessibly buzzing guitars, and the personality to find mass acceptance, but for some reason, its albums have never really broken through. Sure, there was the anthemic 1993 hit single "Believe" (from the L.A. group's disappointingly thin-sounding self-titled debut), but the record from whence it came disappeared into the used-CD bins shortly thereafter. Dig's 1996 sophomore album, the underrated Defenders Of The Universe, flopped badly despite a hilariously self-effacing, catchy single ("Whose Side You On"), and the group quickly disappeared. Fortunately, Dig gets another chance with the new Life Like, which more or less lives up to the band's promise. There's no home run here, just a load of sharp, radio-friendly, occasionally mildly psychedelic pop songs, each supported by surprisingly full production and busy instrumentation. Bandleader Scott Hackwith continues to shroud his limited voice in effects and echo, and as long as it's in aid of such enjoyably lustrous, buzzy guitar-pop anthems as "Live In Sound," "The Fuzz," and "Bumpkin," there's still no reason to complain. Life Like sags a bit in its second half—"Busstopping" is an uneventful instrumental, and if "Possibilities" is a hit, Mercury Records should cash in by reissuing Material Issue's albums—but it's a fine, if inessential, addition to an undervalued little catalog.