ALBUM REVIEW: Ms. John Soda - Notes And The Like

Imagine you're sitting on a beach. A cool breeze offsets the balmy sunshine. You've parked yourself in an exceedingly comfortable deck chair, and an expertly efficient waiter is placing a cool, refreshing drink in your hand the very moment you finish its predecessor. This is the album playing in the background.

Evoking early Stereolab (and hey - what can be wrong with that?), this is a simple, charming and catchy album, its lack of variation one of few criticisms that can be leveled its way. However the album never outstays it's welcome - an unsettling trend among too many artists these days is the desire to fill the entire capacity of the Compact Disc format, which can often leave the listener more fatigued than delighted when attempting to appreciate the album in its entirety.

An unlikely result of a collaboration between Couch's Stephanie Bohm and The Notwist's Micha Acher, this is considered a part-time pursuit, but the variation from the styles imposed upon them by their full time groups breathes a refreshing life into this album; an almost joyous celebration of the atypical. If only all part-time jobs were this fun.