Post Minstrel Syndrome
The debut album by this much-acclaimed L.A. combo is an auspicious one indeed. Singer/guitarist Mark "Stew" Stewart writes sophisticated psychedelic pop tunes that address painful personal and political issues (racial and otherwise) with survivalist humor, while his band alternates between baroque prettiness and rockist bombast.  Stew's most impressive songs--"Submarine Down," "Doubting Uncle Tom," "Birdcage," "If You Would Have Traveled on the 93 North Today"--balance melodic mastery and lyrical invention with a deftness that inevitably recalls fellow African-American pop-psychedelicist Arthur Lee, but nonetheless marks Stew as a genuine original. And the band's cover of "MacArthur Park" puts a menacing contemporary edge on that pop standard.--Scott Schinder