
The Zincs
Black Pompadour
(Thrill Jockey)
Summer means something a little larger to Southerners than
is does the rest of
Black Pompadour has a lot of the same qualities that lat
summer's Dimmer exhibited: Elkington's sleepy baritone, a slight lounge combo
swing to it, and some exquisite complementary twinkling guitar work. This year,
the band has added some more texture to their mix, like a horn section through the
particularly jazzy (but not jazz - much of the time I defer to Yo La Tengo's
take on fake jazz over the real thing) "Hamstrung
and Juvenile." The opener "Head east Kaspar" is like Stereolab done lothario-style,
the bass and drum lines popping up and dropping off like telephone poles on a
breezy back highway drive. If the
Melancholy permeates
this whole things, real melancholy, life affirming happy-sadness that makes you
simultaneously feel smart for surviving it all and yet in touch with your
fragile humanity. "Coward's Corral" provides a moment of crime jazz boogie
amidst a sea of melancholy, namely the twilit majesty of "Lost Solid Colors"
and "Rich Libertines." Elkington's ennui almost swallows him whole on these
songs, but bolstered by the effortless laid back genius of "The Mogul's Wives"
all balance it out. It has the kind of
insouciance about it that Serge Gainsbourg's duet with Bridget Bardot, "Bonnie
and
Alex V. Cook listens to everything and writes about most of it. His latest book, the snappily titled Louisiana Saturday Night: Looking for a Good Time in South Louisiana's Juke Joints, Honky-Tonks, and Dance Halls is an odyssey from the backwoods bars and small-town dives to the swampside dance halls and converted clapboard barns of a Louisiana Saturday Night. Don't leave Heathrow without it. His first book Darkness Racket and Twang is available from SideCartel. The full effect can be had at alex v cook.com
about Alex V. Cook »»
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