Adam Richman

This young Pennsylvania-based one-man band sports a pretty sweet Mohawk on the cover of its debut album, Patience and Science. But like Dashboard Confessional’s Chris Carrabba (who wears two full sleeves of tattoos), Richman seems to care only about punk rock inasmuch as it can provide a little distorted-guitar grit to distinguish his high-energy pop from the work of older, mellower craftsmen like Ben Folds and Fountains of Wayne. Also like Carrabba, Richman can lean a little hard on the button marked “earnest”: “You’re so playful, but I’m breaking/’Cause I’m lonely upon waking,” he sings over strummed acoustic guitar in “Broken Glass.” But his mall-emo fluff is plenty pleasant–and totally harmless.