Album Notes

::::: ABOUT
::::: Pop Music United EP

AMAZON.COM REVIEW
The title track of this 2007 debut begins with Avion singing: "Pop Music United ... This ain't genocide," which kicks-off the album's quasi-Orwellian futuristic themes. (As well as the nod to Bowie that runs through this collection of songs.)

If there is one message embedded in the music here, it is of unity and peace, as well as vivid imagination. The inside jacket, which features vivid portraits of Los Angeles in the year 2685, contains cryptic messages in a bright green computer font and apparently alien language. One such message reads: "Peace 2685." Possibly an ironic mention of how long today's various world peace processes may take. Or perhaps world peace is an actual event embedded in these songs.

(The penultimate track, "War is Over: Resolution Year 2685", begins with trumpets and cheers, indicating a more specific storyline may be at play.)

- "Story of Life" is a spacey bossa nova number that recalls the heyday of mod jazz, with a wicked-sounding, jazzy solo at the end that makes this seem like a song that resides firmly in the present, not some archaic past.

- "Have You Seen the Walking Dogs on Sunset?" is a tripped-out, country-fied number with hoots and hollers that vaguely recall Jimi Hendrix's lonesome blues-hippie odyssey, "My Friend."

- And "Yes, I Wonder" (with its John Lennon-esque doo-wop vocals), "Stand-In" ('80s pop, with harsh lyrics to a camp counselor) and the title track are bona fide catchy classics.

All-in-all, this is an exciting record that shows that Mr. Avion is a promising talent indeed.

(It also stars Tanya Haden, who performed on The Silversun Pickups' Pikul EP.)

You might be interested to know that Paul Avion is also the creator of the pataphor.

And if you don't know what the pataphor is yet, start Googling the web, where you'll find a growing cult of art surrounding this concept, from poetry to short films.