Live It Up!

California's Majestic created a lot of excitement in the indie pop community with this 1998 debut disc, after the band rose out of the ashes of the Majestic 12. The keyboards drive the first track, "Bub," and lead into the optimistic and blissful "Wonderful." The upbeat nature of the band's music continues on "Overcoat," a festive song with trumpet and violin. While the band has all of the usual instruments like guitar, drums, and bass, the group's music would not be the same without keyboards, synthesizers, horns, and Scott Schultz's tender vocal demeanor. The pace slows down in the middle of the disc with track five, "Little Bird," an instrument-rich song with cymbals, triangle, and trumpet, and the sixth track, "Before I Came," a cover of the Club 8 classic. Tracks seven and eight focus on the wordplay of the songs "Sadie Law" and "Say Dee La." The disc ends with the fuzzy and smooth "Killing Time," a relaxed epic that highlights the band's musicianship. From the start, the band sought out musician friends to add to its recordings, resulting in an expansive amount of instrumentation and detail in Majestic's music. This disc hints at greater things to come.