**1/2 Plexi

CHEER UP

(Sub Pop)

Cheer Up offers two takes on psychedelic punk in the first two tracks. "Forest Ranger" churns like a Swervedriver track, with fancy drum work over a crescendo of shrill notes buried in feedback. "Dimension" is a punk rave of speed metal and sneering with a whining hook. The guitars on "Roller Rock Cam" toss notes into a canyon, creating the aural atmosphere of the Kitchens of Distinction before compressing the same guitars in a wall of angry noise. The effect is unusual, something like the Ramones fronting the Wedding Present.

Plexi's mix on their album is jarring. You're watching the lava lamp during the first minute of "Peel," as Michael Barragan re-creates the sound of whales calling; you're pounding the floor when he's jamming chords in synch with Michael Angelos's furious bass. I like Plexi's goth rock on "Change" and their thrashing metal on "56," but the successful combination on "Mountains" is the sound they're really after -- or should be.

-- Craig Thorn