Album Notes

"Jared Lekites has been drinking pop--- most specifically, Brit Pop from the sixties with a splash of ELO thrown in for good measure. It took me all of ten seconds to hear vocals reminiscent of both Badfinger and Marmalade in the kickoff tune off of his new EP, Looking For Diamonds. Love That Lasts is not at all a bad way to start any album, as far as I'm concerned. It takes balls to go up against the tried and true and those two bands are two of the triedest and truest, though Americans have yet to catch up to the Brits when it comes to the vastly underrated Marmalade. Badfinger, though? While most people on the street could barely identify the band, when you play their “hits” they know who they are, though they couldn't place them by name. And if you aren't a Beatles fanatic or don't listen to the oldies, Badfinger is just another one of those bands you hear on oldies radio.
I get it. I really do. New generation equals new music or something like that. I don't like it, but I get it, so when a Jared Lekites comes along, I grab and hold on. Melody, deep harmonies, hooks? I can't get enough of them in this computer-dominated music hell perpetrated by the remnants of a mortally wounded music industry (thank the gods that music does not need a corporate structure to survive). No fancy gimmicks here. No videos with images that flash by so fast they want to make you want to stick a fork in your eye. This is music stripped down to what Lekites hears--- what Lekites wants.
Like I said, Lekites wants pop. Badfinger? Marmalade? Beach Boys? Doesn't matter. He loves it. And he plays it. He gives us five separate tracks, each on its own path--- leaning toward Brit Pop (Love That Lasts), toward straight pop (Let Your Hair Down Once In Awhile), toward a mixture of the two (Electric Car Ballet). They ride on the breeze of sixties and early seventies AM radio and, like the songs of The Dementians and Laurie Biagini and the Research Turtles' Judson Norman, live in the present as much as the past.
I don't know. Maybe you had to live back then to really appreciate what music like this is. Some kids get it, some don't. Whether you get it or not, it doesn't hurt to take a little side trip for a listen. You can scope out Lekites's music on his MySpace page. As much as I sometimes don't like this new style of communication, it does open doors heretofore closed. Check him out. Only takes a few minutes of your time. If you look at it like it's a musical treasure hunt, the music may be payment enough. Maybe more."
- Frank O. Gutch Jr. [ROCK AND REPRISE]

"The impressive Beatlesque opener "Love That Lasts" lead by singer /guitarist Jared Lekites comes out and grabs you right away. The follow up is a folksy "Looking For A Diamond" which is made for a late night campfire, complete with handclaps and harmonica solo. Although his style is the familiar retro strums and harmonies, it's all well written and constructed. "Electric Car Ballet" bounces along and ends with a gorgeous ascending harmonic, and you have your first "must own" track for the stereo in your new Nissan Leaf. It gets a bit Buffalo Spingfield-ish with the moody "Unrequited Love Song" and ending track "Let Your Hair Down Once In A While." This EP fits in your playlist like a comfortable pair of jeans. Fans of The Beatles, Hollies, Beach Boys and James Taylor will surely love it... Excellent debut, what else can I say?"
- Aaron Kupferberg [POWERPOPAHOLIC]

"I'm not sure what's in the water in Oklahoma but it seems to be producing more and more musicians who can make the boring old genre of folk melodic and entertaining.
Cue Jared Lekites. The musician wrote all the songs and plays all the instruments on his new EP Looking For Diamonds. Let me tell you, he certainly found a few."
- Snob's Music

"Oklahoma's Jared Lekites has a self-professed love for the sounds of the 60s, and draws on Brian Wilson and John Lennon as influences on his debut EP. "Love That Lasts" recalls Wilson's solo work, as it's both anthemic and melodic, while "Looking for a Diamond" sports a quirky melody and a glorious harmonica solo in the middle. "The Electric Car Ballet" is a fun number extolling the demise of the combustion engine, and "Let Your Hair Down Once in a While" is a bit more brooding than its title might indicate, but is a wonderful track nonetheless. "
- Absolute Powerpop