It may have been beer that made Milwaukee famous, but you can’t blame Mike Jarvis for trying. Jarvis’ pop pedigree is impeccable—first as leader of The Blow Pops (whose Charmed, I’m Sure and American Beauties are required listening for any serious student of post Fab Four pop and roll) and more recently as the creative force behind The Lackloves. Currently a power trio, The Lackloves’ latest effort, Cathedral Square Park, is a brilliant amalgamation of power pop and psychedelia that in a more just world would put Milwaukee on the map as a hotbed of melodic rock. The disc opens with “On My Way,” which, while unmistakably Beatle-esque, also invokes equal parts Bill Lloyd and Tommy Keene. The track melds walls of jangly guitars with just a hint of psychedelia in a way that Rainbow Quartz artists can seemingly do in their sleep. “Space Age Romeo” tips the scales from pop to psychedelia and back again, and would make the perfect soundtrack for any kind of trip one would care to take. “Marlena” offers a tantalizing view of what Buddy Holly might have sounded like had he recorded in the 1960’s, while “Another Kind of Girl” could have been the Wonders’ long-lost follow-up to “That Thing You Do!” Thanks to Rainbow Quartz, there’s no need to travel to Wisconsin to revel in the brilliance of Mike Jarvis and The Lackloves-simply pop Cathedral Square Park into your CD player, crack open an ice-cold Pabst, and drift away on a sea of melodic bliss.
--Rick Schadelbauer
