Antistar

Quietly, humbly, Andy Gonzales is making music of sublime sophistication. His latest opus, Antistar, is a stylistic relocation to Zanzibar, an uprooting of the old sound and a refining of the craft he's been working at for years now. Recalling at times the understated tropicalia of a Jorge Ben record, but with the bouncy pop hooks of Steely Dan and the breeze of Donovan, Marshmallow Coast's Antistar is a fresh and clever album that shuns the fumbling attempts of so many bands to recreate a rock experience long past. Much like the brilliance and charm of artists like Magnetic Fields, Marshmallow Coast not only references a lofty cross section of music history, but does it in an unforced and natural way.