Portland, Ore. doesn’t have a hockey team. It doesn’t get to see those bone-crunching hits and bloody fights between two bros in ice skates.

What it does have, though, is Hockey and its crunchy guitar riffs and catchy melodies. This Portland quartet recently dropped its major label debut, titled “Mind Chaos,” and has rehashed the tried-and-true recipe for indie success.

Taking obvious cues from predecessors like The Strokes or LCD Soundsystem, Hockey has not re-invented the wheel, but keeps it rolling.

Opening song and lead single “Too Fake” is a jumpy, synthesizer-driven track where singer Benjamin Grubin alternates between singing and speaking. The self-aware lyrics weave through deprecation and egotistical, and the lively chorus is a nice touch.

The band makes it plain that it is not afraid to try its hand at blurring genre lines. “3am Spanish” has a hipster techno beat to it that Grubin raps over, but the poor attempt at hip-hop feels uptight and doesn’t unfold the way it should.

The genre bending continues with the disco sounding “Learn to Lose.”

It’s a bit of a change from the preceding tracks, as Grubin sings rather than raps throughout. Female harmonies support him during the chorus giving it all a nice, luscious sound.

“Work” and “Four Holy Photos” are the tunes where Hockey decides to slow its roll, albeit by different means for each track. “Work” uses a dark synthesizer sound to give the tune a sexy feel with the result sounding like Julian Casablancas of The Strokes singing over a 1980’s-era Rod Stewart beat.

“Four Holy Photos” drops the fluff and opts for acoustic guitar and harmonica work. The country infused tune ends up being one of the finest on the album.

To the band’s credit, Hockey expresses each of its influences in different songs. “Song Away” sounds like a modern twist on classic rock, and Grubin’s voice fits quite well with this style. The band seems better suited to pursue this straight up rock sound more than dance-rock.

“Wanna Be Black” is a bit of self-aggrandizing on Hockey’s part as Grubin is quick to point out “Everyone’s makin’ dance music, true/ But we started in 2002.” The rhyme is weak and doesn’t prove much anyway.

Couple this with the obnoxious bass-driven beat, and “Wanna Be Black” obviously wanted to be the worst track of the album.

Hockey gets a little more straightforward on “Put The Game Down,” a no frills rocker with heavy guitars in the chorus, but at nearly six minutes long it tends to drag out too long. The meat of the song occurs in the first three minutes, so the final three are unnecessarily exhaustive.

“Mind Chaos” ends with “Everyone’s the Same Age,” a tune exactly the opposite of what the album to this point has been. The album’s finale is a piano-based track that never really wakes up from its slow, somber state. Given the fact that the band has been so willing to show off its vast array of influences, ending with such a downtrodden song just feels awkward.

Hockey is obviously well-versed in music and happy to show off the traits of the bands who shaped its sound, but in doing so, it never really develops its own sound.

“Mind Chaos” is a fun debut of upbeat indie-pop jams but feels more like listening to a mix-tape than a cohesive album. It’s enough to keep you on your toes but not enough to keep you coming back for more.

Reach the reporter at jdfourni@asu.edu.