Ooberman - The Magic Treehouse (1999)

One of the bigger Brit-pop buzzes of 2000, Ooberman's debut album is a curious, if slightly odd, affair. While most compared the sound to Parklife-era Blur, Ooberman relies much more heavily on bizarre tempos and lyrics, as well as '70s easy listening. There's a certain quality to these songs that makes them sound as if they would've been easy listening radio staples in the mid-'70s, which is why they sound somewhat jarring amongst today's soundscape. The lyrics are twee, almost too twee at times, as they outdo other twee-poppers such as the Lightning Seeds, and with a few exceptions (the moving "Shorley Wall") the songs are lyrical fluff. The overuse of strings and middle-of-the-road production don't help much, either. Still, whenever Ooberman stumble across a good hook, it is pretty good, such as parts of "Sugar Bum" and "Million Suns."