*** BICYCLE

(Cannonball Records)

Beck comparisons fly fast and furious when one considers the boxy breakbeats, raggedy acoustic guitars, beatnik-savant lyrics, and AM radio-filtered vocals of Bicycle's homonymous debut. And the sonic similarities are matched by two other noteworthy parallels: Bicycle is mainly the work of one guy, Kurt Liebert (the backing band listed on the disc were hired after it was recorded); and one-time Beck sideman and President of the USA Chris Ballew produced and played on several cuts.

But that's too superficial a reading of an album that covers a lot of musical terrain -- from an ode to thirst-quenching beverages ("68") that owes buckets to They Might Be Giants' "Ana Ng," to the Guided by Voices lo-fi pop perfection of "That Cat," to the cryptic "All of Her Chords," where Liebert hones his hooks with ease enough to pass for a Posie. Liebert's a Beatle breakbeatist, juggling "Baby, You're a Rich Man"-style harmonies while standing on a rolling barrel of drum machine and turntable moves. The disc's closing number, "Earthquake," suggests the lovely melancholy of George Harrison's All Things Must Pass. At 33, Liebert's also a Gen Xer through and through: an irreverent, deeply ironic culture blender whose songs are littered with references to Quarterflash, Zeppelin, and Geraldo. But he's no slacker: he earned the name Bicycle (and went through more than a dozen bandmembers in the process) by logging thousands of miles touring the country on bike, eliciting coverage from CNN and People well before landing a deal with Capricorn.

-- James Rotondi