Infinite Shuffle

My interest in Jason Schwartzman, the musician, seems to have taken the same circuitous route as my interest in Jason Schwartzman, the actor.

Like everyone else, I first discovered Schwartzman via his debut film, Rushmore. While the movie is top-notch, he was mildly annoying. And the status of my fandom only grew more perilous after watching him in Slackers, another solid film in which he plays a pest.

So, by the time I’d heard he was a drummer in some band and eventually had struck out on his own as an artist, I wrote him off as just another egotistical fame-whore.

But as he gained some indie film cred — and after other actors, such as Zooey Deschanel, Jared Leto and Scarlett Johansson, released some non-shitty albums — I figured I should cut him some slack.

Also, after hearing a couple solid songs he’d put out under the moniker Coconut Records, I decided it might be time to give his music a chance.

And it was something of a revelation, not least because I didn’t realize how many of his songs I’d already heard before and enjoyed.

I recently listened to both of his albums — Nighttiming (2007) and Davy (2009) — four times apiece, and each time they grew on me more and more.

He mostly goes the indie-pop route but gets a little more rocking and dancy on a few tunes, including the title track from his debut album. He even dabbles in alt-country on “Mama”, from the first album.

That first album includes what has to be his best and most popular tune, “West Coast”, which is accompanied by an equally awesome video.

Another good one, “Drummer”, from the latest disc, is autobiographical, and touches on his time as the drummer for Phantom Planet.

Speaking of autobiographical, besides the well-known relations to Francis Ford Coppola, Nicolas Cage, Sofia Coppola and Talia Shire, his brother, Robert, happens to be the lead singer of the band Rooney. Who knew?