CD reviews: Mondo Cozmo

Having been frontman for two previous major label alt-rock bands (Laguardia and Eastern Conference Champions) that, well, never really did much, Los Angeles-based producer and songwriter Josh Ostrander has found more success with his latest project.

Working under the pseudonym Mondo Cozmo, he takes a cut-and-paste sampling approach, fuses it to a nasal vocal delivery that offers a pastiche of early Dylan,  then turns up the volume for a few stadium anthems, including the Oasis-tinged Gospel rouser Shine,  the dumb yet upbeat Automatic and Come With Me, which  opens with a delightful breakbeat approach that is slightly undone by its echoes of U2 Rattle and Hum-era rhythmic bombast.

• Mondo Cozmo. Plastic Soul. Republic Records/Island. 

• Three stars (out of five)

Single download: Plastic Soul
For those who like: Moby, Beck

— Shane Gilchrist