Since forming Louisville rock band The Muckrakers in 1997, Rob Carpenter and his four bandmates have been drawing mobs of sweating, dancing, request-shouting fans from Kentucky to Colorado. Their new album, Front of the Parade, offers a collection of immediately memorable songs whose propulsive drive reflects the energy of the band's live shows. On first listen, you'll notice their unabashedly melodic vocals, tight, soulful harmonies and clean ensemble playing - their general sound seems to fit somewhere on an iPod mix between, say, Crowded House and Matchbox 20. On a second listen, the play of oblique biographical detail and savvy literary reference reveal themselves in haunting images and subversive wordplay. "Saw the ghost of Barrymore drinking H2SO4," begins one line in Hold On, unlocking itself next with "Baby don't you know I hate Hamlet." Cigarettes and Magazines wraps a critique of superficial, Bible-brandishing hypocrites in a sweet, swaying lilt. And the giddily euphoric Through My Door (also the first video) celebrates the pleasures of crushes for crush's sake - toasting the self-justifying thrill of infatuation itself. Plus, these are songs you can dance to!