http://www.beulahmania.com/

Coast is Never Clear is the latest release from Beulah coming behind two full-length LPs and a few CD singles. It's mellow with a capital MEL. It's a sort of Beck meets The Monkees on someone's patio and they all take Prozac and play some music that sounds like The Apples In Stereo imitating Wilco. In a good way.

Found this about "Silver Lining" on amazon.com: "Introduced by a fanfare of horns, the track races along propelled by a fiery guitar riff and the beaten-up joy of being scarred by punk." I'm not sure which version of the song this guy's listening to but this song, while faster than most of the rest of the album, is definitely an easy-going punk if it's to be classified as punk at all. And saying it's faster than the rest of the album isn't saying much.

But they're quirky, too, in an endearing way. A host of instruments appear on Coast: vibraphone, tamboura, violin, dulcimer, accordian, pedal steel, moog, etc. And the titles and songs are obtuse and poetic as well: "Ballad of the Lonely Argonaut," "The Aristotcratic Swells," (both from When Your Heartstring Break), "What Will You Do When Your Suntan Fades," and "I'll Be Your Lampshade" (both from Coast).

This is what you get on the official bio: Steve La Follette is a serials cataloger at UC Berkeley. Bill Swan works at a telephone company. Steve St. Cin is a college adviser at UC Berkeley and retired from the band. Pat Noel is a director of a learning center. Bill Evans does layout at a newspaper in Berkeley. Miles Kurosky is unemployed.

And that's it. Seriously. Go see for yourself. Their website is really cute, too.