It’s easy to dismiss Caveman as derivative, trendy, or safe. After all, even I, when asked what they sound like the other day, responded with, “they’re sort of like a mellower Local Natives.”

But criticizing this record for those reasons misses the point that (whispers) those are what makes the record kind of great. It may not stand up under strict strutiny, it’s the kind of record that, when I played it with a couple hip-hop loving 8th graders in my classroom, they perked up and said, “mister, I like this. This is relaxing.” And whenever I want to put something on to ease my mind instead of work it, I take peace in knowing that Caveman is there for me.