Power pop is a fickle mistress, it is easy to get lost in its countless releases (most of which are painfully mediocre), and forget why you loved it in the first place. To compound that, whenever you reach the breaking point with it, you stumble across an album which makes you forget everything that its done wrong (for an example of the wrongs see every Jimmy Eat World record after “Clarity”). It essentially the asshole boyfriend who shows up at your door with flowers the day you decide to finally break-up with him.

Growing increasingly frustrated with the genre, and wearing my copy of “Bandwagonesque” thin, I picked up Lukestar‘s “Lake Toba” on an overheard recomenation and a whim. I was delighted to find catchy, hook-filled pop songs that manage to deliver on a tried and true reciepe without sounding tired. Add keyboards, some vocal harmonies, and enough math-rock undertones to keep things intersting, you you get the picture of what Oslo export delivers.  So here I am again, back in my painful relationship with power pop, at least until the next time it gets really drunk and takes off its pants at a party.

Note: the videos blew my mind, I could not even believe that the lead vocals were coming out of that guy.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zpbXD-GMag&eurl=http://www.myspace.com/lukestar&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

MP3: Lukestar – White Shade