When Los Angeles musician Mark Stewart (a/k/a Stew) decided to call his band the Negro Problem, he clearly didn’t have mainstream success in mind. Instead, he was aiming for an audience who love irony at its most appealing — a tool with which to craft original pop songs with art-school smarts and street style.

Welcome Black, the Negro Problem’s third CD since 1997 (there have also been two Stew "solo" albums) continues Stew’s running commentary on the absurdity of ambition. One song echoes the words of every lame A&R person who ever stalked success: "Is This the Single?" In an alternative universe, of course, it might be — the track is rich in melody and has a deft hook. "Father Popcorn" begins with a bucolic melody sung by Stew’s long-time musical and soul mate, Heidi Rodewald, before a grizzled voice takes over, shouting, "Don’t want to put you in the popcorn machine!" — a toothsome metaphor for an era of manufactured pop. Stew does, however; have a soft place for corny pop, from the bossa nova of "Astro Sister" to the psychedelic rainbow of "In Time, All Time" to "I’m Sebastian Cabot," which takes a page right out of the satirical Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band fake book. Insular? For sure. An acquired taste? Definitely. But that’s the point.