The Central Standards are probably my favorite local band right now. They don't really fit into any one of the current Memphis music scenes (rap/hip-hop, post-hardcore angry music, blues-influenced rock, just to name a few), and they don't play out that often--I think they all have 9-5's.
But what they do, they do really well--craft melodic, catchy, jangly pop-rock songs. Fans of early REM (full disclosure: I'm one of them) might, on a casual listen, accuse them of wearing that particular influence a little too high on their sleeves, but the similarities are chiefly on the surface: most of the Central Standards' songs are as direct as the early REM songs are opaque.
The Standards just released their second CD, "Can't Remember the Last Time." While not a major departure from their first CD ("Refrain"--both it and the new one are great, by the way), it contains "Teenage Heart," which is one of the simplest, prettiest, and most affecting "little" songs I've heard in a long, long time. read more