Jangly power pop, informed by the Beatles but rotating singly around pure inspiration and refined musicianship, delivering sparkly gems of pop refinement.

13 MP3 Songs
POP: Power Pop, POP: Beatles-pop



Details:
Jeff Tracy and Lee Elliott originally formed Blue Cartoon in California, but relocated to Austin in 1992 where they eventually hooked up with Austin locals Barry Simon, David Loren and John Valadez. The band focused on writing and playing well-crafted pop tunes influenced by 60's California pop, British Invasion, Motown and the heyday of The Brill Building songwriters.

The band soon found a musical ally in songwriter/producer Ron Flynt from the legendary power pop band 20/20. Ron recorded and produced the band's self-titled debut in 1997, which was released on the band's own Aardvark Records label. Several national pop magazines have published favorable reviews of the CD, and it was named one of the Top Ten Albums of 1997 by the Canadian netzine, Shake It Up!

Blue Cartoon's second full-length CD, Downtown Shangri-La, was recorded and produced by the band in their own Flambay Studios. Downtown Shangri-La was named a Pop Essentials disc for 1999 by Alan Haber's PurePop webzine. It has also received very favorable reviews with the most respected pop critics, among them pop impresario David Bash, who included it in his Top Ten favorite releases of 1999.

Blue Cartoon has contributed tracks on various compilation CDs around the world. Most notable are standout tracks that can be found on tributes to Canadian studio-mavens Klaatu and LA's baroque-pop innovators The Left Banke. Recent compilation projects include a tribute to U.K 70's glam rockers The Sweet (September 2001) and an arrangement of "I Want To Tell You" on the Jealousy Records homage to George Harrison titled He Was Fab (Summer 2002).

The band has had a consistent presence at the annual International Pop Overthrow festival, having performed 4 of 5 years at the original Los Angeles incarnation, and at the first regional festival in Chicago in April 2002. Blue Cartoon's appeal has garnered a mention in the 2nd edition of Texas Music, a book by Rick Koster (St. Martin's Griffin, May 2000).

Blue Cartoon has launched their third full-length album, The Wonder of it All, at the 5th annual IPO festival in July 2002. Please visit www.aardvarkrecords.com or www.bluecartoon.com for more information.