Let’s be honest: Any idiot can write Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face.” What
takes real creativity is a hooky pop song that stays fresh after 20
listens. The Starlight Mints are a complex pop group capable of that:
The Oklahoma five-piece take songs you might hear on the radio and adds
magic ingredients: spacey psychedelic sound effects, sprays of shaken
percussion, ’70s bass-guitar funk and whatever feels right at the
moment. “Natural” matches crunchy electro-goodness with Nine Inch
Nails-like grittiness and attitude that’s more playful than a
slobbering puppy. Slowly grooving to vaudevillian horns, “Zoomba”
sounds like a collaboration between Queen and Weezer, complete with
falsetto trills. If you drive around blasting Change Remains with the windows down, people around you might be confused at first,
asking themselves, “What is this strange, but miraculously catchy
music?” And maybe they’ll turn off the latest Madonna rip-off and hear
something worthwhile for a change. — Danielle Sills
This article appears in Jul 22-28, 2009.
