Starlight Mints

"Pop music that's as sharp as a knife and as twisted as a James Bond villain" -- (from a review at Amazon)

Starlight Mints are fun, power pop music. The kind of stuff both kids and adults bop and sing along to - and that's also deceptive. Their music is really complex from using a wide variety of instrumentation and orchestration to get there, but the best part are their quirky lyrics and double meanings. How else could a song about popsickles be innocent enough for a 5 year old and suggest something different for adult ears? Other songs are almost like listening to They Might Be Giants or Dan Hicks on an acid trip. They add horns, violins, keyboards, odd narration in the background, deranged song structures with a hint of seriousness, chaotic devil may care sarcasm and have it all come together to make sense with a funk pop beat that sounds as simple as a catchy tune for Saturday morning cartoons. It's the opposite direction that most bands would take to develop their sound.

I think Starlight Mints are one of the most original and creative indie bands that I've heard in a long time. Their music doesn't hit you in the face and the subtleties grow with each listening. Almost every track on their cd's could have been released as singles -there's no filler. 

This is great stuff for the weekend, at a party or just cruising down the highway with the windows rolled down and cd blasting. And that's my mood right now.

Starlight Mints: Built on Squares 2003

Black Cat

Brass Digger

Goldstar

Pages

Buena Vista

Irene

Rinky Dink

Zillion Eyes

Jack in the Squares

San Diego

Jimmy Cricket
Starlight Mints: Drowaton 2006

Pumpkin

Torts

Inside of Me

Pearls (Submarine #2)

Seventeen Devils

Rhino Stomp

The Killer

Eyes of the Night 

Drowaton

The Bee

Rosemarie

Sidewalk

Popsickle