Starberry

Like the cereal its name suggests, Starberry is so sugar-coated, it's gritty. Pat and Jennifer Casa are a husband-wife team, but they aren't much like the White Stripes. They're sweet where the Stripes have soured, peppy where the Stripes have the blues, orange and black where the Stripes are red and white.

Like their self-titled 2002 debut, Starberry II only sounds as if it were recorded in a kitchen. Fact is, it was written and mixed in their kitchen, but recorded in the basement; the disc is rough but sincere. Pat's the drummer. Credited with "non drums," singer Jennifer harmonizes with herself through the magic of eight-track recording and plays guitar with just a hint of surf twang. Over a rhythm track with a subtle drum & bass influence, the album-closing keyboard instrumental "The Sweet Science" plinks and gleams, strongly suggesting that when they get a recording budget, Starberry will be good for a full meal.