From Minneapolis comes a guitar and drums duo called Kid Dakota with the ironically titled ep, "So Pretty." Ironically because the cover features a kid (from Dakota?) who looks like he blocked a couple of hammer blows with his face. On the CD player, the name seems more apt; simple but commanding guitars back up dead-on melodic singing a la Elliot Smith or Jeremy Enigk's more introspective moments. The drums come like punctuation more than percussion, rarely beating out more than a hard-hitting fill at choice moments. The sum is touching and commanding. The eponymous track tells a junkie story that's so sincere it might have been included on the soundtrack for Traffic, if it had been about heroin-addicted indie rockers: "Well what good are the Make-up / and what good are the Makers / if nothing can make you feel good." File this away with Enigk's "Return of the Frog Queen" and play it when you've got more to be upset about than a broken heart, but you feel like smiling anyway.

--Kuri Kondrak