If you ever wondered what it might have sounded like if Jello Biafra fronted the Cramps playing twice-removed delta blues, here you go. There's also a White Stripes garage spirit (not to mention a duo where the guy plays guitar and sings and the gal bangs skins). If all of these references sound a little long in the tooth, of course you're correct. That's the point.

The Luxurious Faux Furs Like a Real Shadow (Mandinga Records)

This is not modern music. It's not polished or particularly professional. It's raggedy emotion channeled through raw playing and decidedly lo-fi production. And emotion is the entire point. The songs aren't pretty, but they lay the hammer down.

One of the "innovations" of punk music was that bands didn't have to be able to play their instruments in order to move listeners. Well, Josh Lee Hooker (that can't actually be his name, right?) and Jessica Melain can play. They just choose to focus on expression.

Not as weird as Beefheart, but definitely more scattered than Flat Duo Jets. Does that help? Probably not. But the Luxurious Faux Furs have made themselves a caterwauling, primal album. Don't think. Just feel.

Jon Worley