ELIZA DOOLITTLE
“Eliza Doolittle”
4 STARS
To understand 22-year-old Londoner Eliza Doolittle, just spin her bright, melodic pop song “Moneybox,” in which she chirps happily about the all-you-need-is-love simple life, singing, “Don’t need a moneybox, cos I got lots and lots, of what I need right here, right here with you my dear.” Her original songs are modern-retro in content and style, the latter of which hints at the clipped vocals of Petula Clark. Especially welcome is the bouncy cha-cha rhythm of “Go Home” and her contemporary doo-wop when she samples the Fleetwoods’ huge 1959 hit “Come Softly to Me” into her own song “Missing.” In an album of standouts, the top song is “Skinny Genes,” where Doolittle lets a lover know exactly what she doesn’t like about him. After the abuse in that one, she finally sings, “I don’t mind it when you . . .” and then she whistles a few notes, letting your imagination fill in the blanks. Like much of this record, it’s an old-fashioned double-entendre that’s sexy and clever without approaching crass.
DENGUE FEVER
“Cannibal Courtship”
3 1/2 STARS
Some of rock’s finest gems have been mined from unexpected places, but few are as exotic and exciting as the Cambodian/American fusion on Dengue Fever’s “Cannibal Courtship.” The LA-based group’s been around since 2001, but this record is their breakthrough disc, on which electric guitars are welded to traditional Cambodian instruments (such as the two-string, long-neck chapei dong veng) to create a strange brand of psychedelic surf music. Elements of funk, Afro beats and pop punk — closer to Blondie than the Ramones — are best heard on the end-of-the-world song “2012 (Bury Our Heads).” Singer Chhom Nimol easily slips from her raw and sexy rock-chick persona on the songs “Cement Shoes” and the title track into Asian exotic, when she sings in her native Khmer on the spooky “UKU” and “Sister in the Radio.”
BRIAN
SETZER
“Setzer Goes Instra-MENTAL!”
3 STARS
Brian Setzer, Stray Cat gone feral, again shows off how he’s one of the most overachieving, yet underappreciated and sophisticated, guitarists in music. Known for his rockabilly skills, the ax-man steps outside his comfort zone with an all-instrumental album where country (“Pickpocket”) slams head on into Les Paul-style jazz fretwork (“Far Noir East”), and then detours into fuzzy, vibrato-rich Ventures-style rock (“Hot Love”). On a couple of tunes, the guitarist even demonstrates his hillbilly pluck on the banjo. For those yearning for a lick of his rockabilly talents, check out his fast-paced take on “Blue Moon of Kentucky.”