Jason Schwartzman, you god damn amaze me. Rushmore, Darjeeling Ltd., and I heart Huckabees are some of the best movies I’ve ever seen and some of my favorite movie cameos are yours in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Walk Hard. Last year, Coconut Records was released, and the infectious tune of West Coast was everywhere; Jason almost single handedly put out one of the best albums in a while with catchy, charming tunes that just plain rocked. At that point I suspected him of being some kind of witch, but logic got the best of me so I decided he was more along the lines of superhuman. Most bands fall into that sophomore slump on their second album, but Jason Schwartzman is very clearly not most bands.

The album starts out with the newest single, “Microphone”, a chorus-driven rock number that gets stuck in my head all day. The keyboard tone on the track fits so well, too. Next, “Drummer”, a true story about Jason’s time drumming for Phantom Planet, with chorus lyrics so literal they’re kind of funny. It also has a horn solo part that, mixed with the retro pop drums, could be something off Sgt. Peppers.

The album is heavily piano driven, with undeniable 60′s and 70′s style influences rearing their heads all over the place. The key tones have such variety throughout the album too, using clean piano, church style organs, and The Doors style synths, among many others. His vocals, although nothing compared 70′s legends like Robert Plant or Jim Morrison, still has its own distinctiveness to it, and fits this kind of music really well. Everything about his music is so melody driven, the albums consistently deliver top-grade pop-rock songs from cover to cover. On top of it all, I think he sampled the iChat sent message noise on track seven, “The Summer,” and it totally works.

It’s short, though; almost too short. With 10 songs total, and only two of them over 3 minutes, the runtime isn’t even more than a half hour. The previous album has a few lengthy slow songs that I often found myself skipping. This album is has much fewer of these songs, and fixes the only flaw the first album had. The songs are kept fairly simple, with great melodies and fun lyrics that you love to sing over and over. It’s almost a feel good record, with pleasant rock songs that don’t sound like anything else out in this day. The hooks on this album are actually just that, because they will really pull you in. Even for pop, every track has a ton of variety, and it has set my quality standard for 2009, and it’s a pretty high bar. Can someone tell me who the hell Davy is though?