We're heading back to Australia for this week's Requested Review and checking out the 1994 album The Plastic Hassle by Ripe. Lots of shoegaze influenced bands spent less time on vocals and melody than dialing in the perfect tremolo and delay settings on their guitar pedals, but not Ripe, who manage to craft to genuinely catchy melodies and memorable lyrics. And like those same bands, Ripe aren't afraid to stretch the songs into a variety of territories, whether it's acoustic ballads or minor key dirges.