The Wondermints’ (aka simply Wondermints) glistening approach to pop embraces – and has absorbed — everything from Burt Bacharach, Brian Wilson (via Carl) and Henry Mancini to easy listening, ‘70s soft soul and ‘60s film scores. After recording a few albums (one being all cover tunes), most of the group went on to become Brian Wilson’s backing band – though really, they carry a lot of the show by filling in the gaps left by the Beach Boys. Keyboardist-vocalist Darian Sahanaja and guitarist Nick Walusko (and earlier, bassist Brian Kassan) wrote songs that beautifully overlap in terms of their kaleidoscopic influences. The ‘Mints occupy a special – if obscure — spot where sunshine pop, space-age bachelorhood and “Porpoise Song”-y psychedelia converge into SoCal melodic perfection.
(Source: Jordan Oakes)

Toy’s Factory Records of Japan signed them and released their debut album in 1996. After Brian Kassan left the band, multi-instrumentalist Probyn Gregory agreed to fill the slot and then they created the title track for the immensely successful Mike Myers film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. Penned by Sahanaja, the track got the attention of EMI, and in 1998 the group finally released their first major label LP, Bali. Later the following year the Wondermints were playing a Brian Wilson charity tribute show in Los Angeles on a bill with Alex Chilton and Apples in Stereo when the man himself showed up unexpectedly backstage. “We were playing his song ‘This Whole World,’” recalled Sahanaja. “Brian said ‘Wow, what is that? Who’s that? What song is that? They sound great!'” Wilson recruited the band to perform the classic Pet Sounds live in its entirety and then lost Beach Boys masterpiece SMiLE over 30 years after the project was initially scrapped. And while they never displayed “the power” of power pop in their music, they certainly have helped revive Wilson’s career and have been able to shape the legacy of the Beach Boys.
(Source: Aaron Kupferberg)