Power pop phenom Ari Shine hit the ground running with the 2006 release of EP Age/Occupation, immediately earning comparisons from Village Voice and Time Out to a young Elvis Costello.

Tastemakers such as Burbank rock radio institution KROQ and onetime Rolling Stones mentor and producer Andrew Loog Oldham began to enthusiastically espouse Shine’s music on their airwaves, and constant touring attracted devoted fans on both sides of the pond. Indeed, Shine quickly racked up sterling pop credentials, having performed on bills with uber-cool names such as Ian Hunter, Redd Kross, Gin Blossoms, Peter Case, John Doe, Silversun Pickups, Gilby Clarke, Gob, Kris Rowe (the Ataris) and many others. TV viewers have heard him, too—Shine’s songs have been heard on Veronica Mars, Quarterlife, Kyle XY, Dance Life, Parental Control and Vive la Bam.

Such are Shine’s pop chops and sensibilities, for example, that his U.K. dates included a stop at Liverpool’s famous Cavern Club, the reconstructed stomping grounds of fairly popular hometown sons, the Beatles.

Shine’s 2007 album A Force of One was produced by acclaimed Los Angeles studio veteran and Sparks/Concrete Blonde guitar slinger Earle Mankey. Indie bible Big Takeover subsequently called him “a classic power popster of the stripped-down new-wave tense type”; the Los Angeles Times described him as “songwriter-to-watch in the L.A. power-pop underground.” As co-writer of Spanish track “Escondidos,” Shine also won Song of the Year honors in the 2007 John Lennon Songwriting Contest.