Q: Why do you have to take three pills each day?

A: Otherwise the virus will surely gain / travel through your veins / to your heart, your brain / ending all the life that you seem to know...

So goes "Janet," the opening track on Kiss Kiss' fantastically schizo debut, Reality Vs. the Optimist, one of my favorites albums of 2007 so far. Which is a little surprising, since I'd, uh, never really heard of them before randomly stumbling into it.

Most everything I know about Kiss Kiss, I learned from their MySpace page: They're a five-piece orchestra rock ensemble from Milton, NY (across the river from Poughkeepsie); they've been together three years, during which they've amassed 9,044 friends, apparently thanks to their high-energy live act; they're currently touring the east coast; they're on some label called Eyeball Records; and 20% of them is a hot chick.

Kiss Kiss: Gotta lose your mind in Milton Rock City

I understand that metaphor might be difficult to grasp; it makes more sense if you think of it as I just really needed some lame-ass excuse to incorporate the KISS logo. Kiss Kiss doesn't really have anything in common with KISS, although there are isolated moments where they sound a little like Queen. Other times they sound like emo Devotchka. Other times, like a post-rock Weezer being savagely mauled by wolves inside a violin.

And, you know, they totally fuckin' rawk. But you don't have to take LeVar Burton's word for it.

Kiss Kiss - Janet
Kiss Kiss - Dress Up
Reality Vs. the Optimist, 2007

You can hear more over on MySpace. "Machines" seems to be a popular track, and the band's blog says it's being made into a video.

What makes Kiss Kiss stand out is its ADHD style, incorporating a ton of different instruments and noises in a constant battle against time, or time signatures. If I had to come up with a criticism, it'd be that sometimes they move too fast, abandoning songs or melodies before bringing them fully to fruition.

Aside from that minor gripe, I love what they're doing, and see big, big things in their future. By which I mean, several years toiling as a revered underground rock group as the music industry implodes.