So I totally forgot to put this up yesterday, but here's my artist for this past week...

I've always been wary of bands/artists containing already-made celebrities. Now while both Johnny Depp and Keanu Reeves are members of decent bands for the occasional get together, we all know how spectacularly female tabloid fodder Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan's pop-albums bombed. Sort of like a car stuck in the middle of a train track while a train roars dangerously nearby, you can kind of tell how well a celeb known for something else other than music is going to fare. It's bad, and you want to go get help, yet at the same time, it's just so flamboyantly disastrous that you can't look away.

I'd like to thank my good friend Lucas for suggesting this act to me, and it totally changed my view on all bands containing an A-lister (or any "lister" for that matter).

Jason Schwartzman's--the lovable antagonist pariah in "I Heart Huckabees"--solo project, Coconut Records, comes packaged as a mellow West Coast breeze, sounding like a mix between the Shins, the Beach Boys, and Rooney. Schwartzman incorporates acoustic guitars, easy on the ears drumming, and even some fast-paced guitar solos to make that trip down the Pacific Coast Highway all the more tangible for people this side of Los Angeles. 

"West Coast" off of Coconut Records' debut, Nighttiming, fuses a bouncy, pop sounding keyboard and synth with a deaf, pitsicatto piano to build a likable, if not anthemic chorus to end the song. Featured on the season four soundtrack to the hit show The O.C., Schwartzman longs for his crush in lyrics like, "and I miss you/I'm goin' back home to the West Coast/I wish you would've put yourself in my suitcase/I love you."

"Nighttiming" starts with a funky bass intro, reminiscent of fellow Californian musical legend Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers, and then bursts into an early 80s techno, synth freak fest. Sounding like a Hello Goodbye dance-punk jam, Schwartzman flows seemlessly using the chorus, "yeah you've been nighttiming, baby, uh-huh" to get the listener up and moving. Like the subtle, escalating caffeine high that you get by drinking a Pepsi, "Nighttiming" concocts as potent--and addicting--of an effect.

Schwartzman has created a flowing, Californian pop-music bear with his debut album, one that's just as catchy the first time as it is the fiftieth time--and I think I'm approaching that listening milestone quickly.