You may know Eszter Balint for her roles in Shadows and Fog and Trees Lounge. Or maybe her turn on "Louie" a few years back. She has two albums in her pocket, and she's been on the periphery of the NYC artistic scene for more than 30 years.

Eszter Balint I HATE MEMORY! (self-released)

And so it's just not surprising that she has teamed up with Stew for something of an autobiographical memoir sorta thing. I will say that your enjoyment of this will definitely rise and fall based on your appreciation of Stew's musical idiosyncrasies. The vocal performances are all Balint, but Stew's hands are all over the music.

I'm good with that, by the way. Balint often comes across like a less-snarky Bongwater-era Anne Magnuson. Less snarky, but more attitude. Does that make sense? Bongwater always had the feeling of a put-on (which I liked). Balint sounds entirely genuine here, and her observations of the aforementioned NYC scene are acerbic and amusing.

These are the songs from a stage production of the same name. Not unlike Passing Strange, I image the songs are the nuts and bolts of the show. Again, trusting Stew to help with the process was a winning idea. Balint's tales are intriguing and set to music that is the very embodiment of NYC ex-cool. Balint's voice is totally unaffected, and her clear gaze enables these songs to truly shine.

Jon Worley