+ Frenetic Records: The Curtains

Hollywood has Asha Bhosle, California has The Curtains...a discombobulated trio of garage Mancinis that makes miniature pop soundtracks combining elements from most any genre one can imagine into flashing episodes of unsettling sweetness. Vehicles of Travel, their third full-length, moves away from the experimental fragments and sketches of 2003's Flybys, toward a more realized sound (half the songs have vocals this time!) that evokes a merry-go-mood of musical soundscapes: John Carpenter's thrillers, Nino Rota's circus stomps, Ennio Morricone's forays into rock'n'roll.

Make no mistake, though...this is a pop album, and the songs are full of puzzly hooks worthy of a Jimmy Webb or Donald Fagen at his tin pan wooziest. But there's also a lyrical strangeness present that gives you the unsettling feeling that instead of hearing music you're reading a paperback detective novel or watching animated puppets ride horses against a paper sunset. Quirky storylines are everywhere: two-bit crooks and chestnut kids come alive amidst an ever-changing backdrop of weathered sea ships, exotic ports of call, clover fields, trendy nightclubs, and even the Bronx Zoo!

Quite unlike any other music being made at the moment, this is bound to be a classic straight out of the gate, like the Walker Brothers' Nite Flights or Beach Boys Friends. The Curtains are strange birds with strange tunes, and Vehicles of Travel has them busting out of their collective cage and flying free!