“Hey Pinsky!” “Yo, it’s Joey the Rat!”

So sound the voices of concertgoers everywhere. Blake Sennett, of Rilo Kiley and The Elected, has a long way to go before he can escape his kid actor past.

Sennett’s character in Nickelodeon’s “Salute Your Shorts” was Ronnie Pinsky, the sausage hawking second-season replacement for the departed “Michael.” Pinsky, along with bunkmates Budnick and Donkey Lips, is forever ingrained in the minds of anyone who was glued to Nickelodeon from the years of 1990 to 2000. To make matters worse, Sennett later starred as “Joey the Rat” Epstein in the Ben Savage teen series “Boy Meets World,” as the vaguely cartoonish, clearly obnoxious sidekick to a pre-“My Name is Earl” Ethan Suplee. And just so new generations don’t forget his past; that show is still shown three times a day on ABC Family and the Disney Channel.

To make matters worse, Sennett, unlike his bandmate/ex-girlfriend Jenny Lewis (also a child star who worked with the other Savage brother in the ‘80s Nintendo kid’s flick The Wizard), hasn’t changed a bit since his TV days, although he has occasionally grown a creepy mustache.

Luckily, he’s a lot more talented at making music than he is at acting. With a style that evokes Elliott Smith, if he had taken hits of rainbows and sunshine instead of hits of heroin, Sennett’s side project The Elected has created some of the best nostalgic pop in recent years.

“Don’t Get Your Hopes Up”

From their first record, 2003’s Me First, (co-produced by Jimmy Tamborello) tends to mix languid country-esque pop and dance beats. “Hopes Up” on the other hand is completely different—sounding like something you might have heard at a psychedelic circus circa-1930s, if there were such a thing. A dreamy, carnival-esque melody plays on synth strings backed by a stand up bass and Sennett’s whispered vocals, only to burst wide open with a saxophone solo towards the end of the song.

“Did Me Good”

Like “Don’t Get Your Hopes Up,” “Did Me Good” from their 2006 LP Sun, Sun, Sun has a familiar sound, like an A.M. radio song from days gone by. With its sustained organ, horn section and bluesy lead guitar, it’s reminiscent of the ‘70s Memphis Stax sound made famous by Al Green. Sennett allows himself to break out of his croon and do some faux-preaching—a technique perfected by the best R&B singers when they find themselves unable to contain their passion any longer and plain old singing just won’t cut it. Sennett shouts to the heavens: “Baby, baby, he ain’t doing you no good!”

“The Bank and Trust”

Also from Sun, Sun, Sun, “The Bank and Trust” is set to a country melody, and backed by a gorgeous pedal steel. The music perfectly captures a funny tale of being stuck in a dead-end town with a girl who doesn’t even like you, “the only way you got / As far as you did / Is cause of me / Your songs suck.”

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