A few things quickly become apparent after you play the newest Stellar Kart album just once or twice.
The first is, of their 10 songs on “Expect the Impossible,” there ain’t a bad one in the bunch, and you won’t be able to play it just once or twice.
“This is a great album to crank in your car driving down the highway,” I thought to myself as it played.
All of the songs are catchy, fun-loving, uptempo rockers in the best tradition of the Supertones (without the horns) or MxPx, with a youthful edge and fueled by a driving beat and jangling guitars.
Another thing is, you can tell why the Phoenix-based foursome is starting to distance itself from the pack of young bands, both “religious” and secular, as they continue to crank out great songs like “Jesus Loves You,” “Shine Like the Stars” and “Automatic” on the new release.
Most of all, just like the Supertone- or Relient K-style fun of their songs, it’s clear that Stellar Kart has a true Gospel message and heart for Jesus.
“Expect the Impossible” is a keeper, one of the best uptempo Christian-rock albums we’ll all hear in 2008.
Put this one in  your shopping kart … uh, cart.
The 10 new songs on “Expect the Impossible,” SK’s third release, also come on top of some of the hits the band has logged since its debut three years ago.
If you’re a fan of the band or don’t know about them yet, there are two chances to see them around here next month.
The first is at the all-day Witness Festival in Quarryville on Saturday, June 14, and the other is at Creation 2008, where Stellar Kart is to play on Thursday, June 26.
You just had to hear their Dove Award-winning song from last year, “Me and Jesus,” to know that Stellar Kart is the real thing, and could soon become a household name in Christian music.
If you listen to contemporary Christian radio at all, you probably heard “Life Is Good” from their first record, early 2005’s “All Gas, No Brake.” It’s the one with the recurrent “Life is good, eternal life is better” lyric.
But it was “Me and Jesus” that really dominated Christian radio, a song that’s both catchy and uplifting to people in need of an “uplift.”
It was Number 1 for seven weeks on Christian radio, and won the 2007 Dove for best rock/contemporary song.
You’ve probably started to hear “Jesus Loves You” from the new album, released in late February.
The band’s Web page calls its sound “adventurous, spirited, and totally unexpected pop ‘n’ roll,” and that sounds about right to me.
And best of all, just listen to these lyrics to hear where this band comes from:
“All around me your creation/
Brings me to my knees in adoration/
Beauty here cannot compare to/
What I see when I first see you.”
Their frontman Adam Agee has a great rock/power punk voice, so it’s a nice surprise to hear him pull it off well singing a song with more ballad-like moments, like “Jesus Loves You” from the new one.
But he also is great on traditional screaming rock, as on “Eyes” and “Innocent,” and “Automatic” is a good one to crank as well.
It will be exciting to watch and hear where Agee and bandmates Cody Pellerin (guitars, and lots of ‘em!), Brian Calcara (bass) and drummer Jordan Messer — all seen with surfboards or fun-loving goofball attire on the cover of “Expect the Impossible” — go from here.