The Format: “Dog Problems”

Filed under: Music Reviews   

(Nettwerk Records)

This column must still be on Nettwerk’s probation list, being that the love it gets from the corridors of PR is currently limited to quirky guess-my-classification tests released the previous month or week, not that they should stop in case anyone’s looking. A couple of months ago we went over Anathallo, whose weirdness was Sufjan Stevens-level, and the oom-pah-pah waltzing that kicks off boot-up track “Matches” was met with similar excited squeals from our Altie Whacko Desk, but that was just a drill; the evocation here is Belle and Sebastian getting a royal beating from the Shins while ELO sneaks a few robot-glissando aaahhhahhs into the vocal tracks. It’s at once keep-on-truckin 70s and break-out-the-thesaurus inspiration for Pitchforkians, the hi-hat sizzling in 16th-notes while twee vocal lines implicitly urge the rich kids to make daddy’s 57 T-bird disappear to someplace grassy where it’s safe to make out and do wildly outrageous things like stick flowers in your hair. Title track is a synthesis of “Killer Queen” and the most recent opera-couplet-a-thon from the now-demented Sparks, setting the table for an experience that will have Belle fans who’d like to see their heroes get slightly edgy believing in Santa Claus.

Posted on April 5th, 2007.

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