Every city and state has their fair share of good time bar bands. You know the kind I am talking about? They are local band at your favorite watering hole on a Friday night. The ones playing for the sole purpose of helping you forget everything that happened over the past week, and to let loose and have a good time. Hailing from the Garden State of New Jersey, Groove Pocket is just that type of band. In New Jersey where it seems as though every Friday and Saturday night is a national holiday, these guys have carved out a niche for themselves as one of the most sought after bands to see out on the local circuit. 

With their indie release entitled "Everything's Whatever" the New Jersey boys are quickly spreading their music beyond the East Coast. With musical elements and vibes of bands like Sister Hazel, Dave Matthews, Bare Naked Ladies and Cowboy Mouth, with the obvious rock foundation, Groove Pocket's CD is a good listen for those music lovers who love music for the pur fun of it all. 

The nine tracks collectively offer bits and pieces of great songs, but lack a solid base to hold the listeners interest. Moving through the tracks there is a definite energy and life to all the songs, but I found myself straining for the most part to hear the lyrics which seem too get lost somewhere along the lines in the production process. I feel what a lot of the CD lacks, falls on the responsibility of the quality of production itself. At times it is as though the fronting vocals drown out the instrumentation and arrangements of the songs, to the point where the music comes across as static in quality. 

There are a handful of notable mentions on "Everything's Whatever". "Letter Better" is a great song which has a rootsy, jazzy backbone that takes a balls out approach both vocally as well as instrumentally. The combination of the two completely different genres makes it one of myfavorite tracks on the CD for its range and vibe. "Take Me As I Am" is the truly the highlight of the CD. It not only lends itself a great hook and lyrical content, but also lets us see the vulnerable side of relationships where being accepted for the person you are without the need for change. It does have a great Dave Matthew-esque raw and organic sound that is so very popular in today's music. 

Overall, with better production I think "Everything's Whatever" would have been a much better listen. Groove Pocket obviously has a great following due to their talent and energy. They just need the right people to capture that talent and energy properly into a disc format.
 

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