This came out in 2002 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Eccentric singer-songwriter Ben Kweller was one of the first acts signed to Dave Matthews’ ATO (According to Our) Records label — presumably because Beck, Ben Folds and Weezer don’t have their own imprints yet.
If any of them did — or, even better, if all of them started one collective outlet — Kweller would be right at home. As would his catchy, eclectic second solo album Sha Sha. These 11 tunes from the former leader of teenage post-grunge Texans Radish achieve a perfect balance between the goofy crunch-pop of Rivers Cuomo (Wasted & Ready, Commerce, Tx.), the junk-shop folk-pop and slacker-poet lyrics of Beck (“I’m maxed out like a credit card”) and the surprisingly melodic, earnest balladry of Folds and Rufus Wainwright (Family Tree). In other words, Kweller has a ways to go before he finds his own space — but at just 23 years of age, he has plenty of time to get there. No matter whose label he’s on.
