JESSICA 6
"White Horse" and "Fun Girl"
(Peacefrog)

Siren of the dance floor Nomi Ruiz is looking and sounding even better outside of Hercules and Love Affair; in fact, depending on the petty commercial whims and deeper prejudices of the world, she could be the most alluring pop diva since Aaliyah. Washing in on peerless cymbal-sprays, "White Horse" comes on like the 21st-century answer to Shannon's "Let the Music Play" while also notching top spot in the current Madonna revival. Its video sashays through the kind of N.Y. nighttime sleaze that just about disappeared with the Gaiety, and does so with style. The older "Fun Girl" has traces of the Hercules sound as well as Janet Jackson's and Aaliyah's feline flirtations with guitar rock, and a warped horror-tinged sound that make sense when one considers Jessica 6's original name was Deep Red. Check out the flawless combo of windblown hair/keyboard at 1:14. Can't wait for the album. Videos after the jump. Read more »

In conjunction with the continuing "Fantomas by the Bay" series presented by City Lights, the Cultural Services of the Consulate General of France, and the Mechanics' Institute Library, here's an interview with the Slow Poisoner, who may be casting a musical shadow over the Fri./8 event, “An Elegant Threat.” The man also known as Andrew Goldfarb holds forth on his Fantomas bonds, surrealist activity in San Francisco, and the Slow Poisoner's current and next moves. Read more »

ARNAUD FLEURENT-DIDIER
La Reproduction
(Columbia/Sony Music)

If you're a lover of chanson-tinged pop and you found Benjamin Biolay's recent double-LP a letdown, then there's bittersweet relief to be found in this song collection, which covers similarly vast instrumental terrain with an ease that the ostentatious Biolay didn't manage. Fleurent-Didier reminds me a bit of Gerard Manset, but not quite as brooding -- there's modernity and whimsy to his compositions and vocal delivery. The interplay between vulnerable voice, acoustic guitar, piano, electronics, and orchestration in "Reproductions" is flat-out gorgeous. The Contempt-inflected music video for that song is one of the best I've seen in quite a while. Totally, tenderly, tragically, after the jump. Read more »

SILK FLOWERS
Ltd. Form
(PPM)

There's something endearingly ungainly about Aviram Cohen's singing, but Silk Flowers is most successful in instrumental mode, and the majority of Ltd. Form steers clear of the morbid imagery and Michael Gira-like or Andrew Ridgely-type baritone posturing that characterizes three of the album's tracks. The highlight is "Small Fortune" (which I keep wanting to call "Small Wonder"), an electric dream Phil Oakey would covet. It cries out for a dramatic pop vocal, yet likely is more resplendent without one. Listen in after the jump. Read more »

BEACH FOSSILS
What a Pleasure
(Captured Tracks)

Beach Fossils' music possesses a brisk energy that -- while sonically akin to great '80s records on labels such as Postcard and Sarah -- feels contemporary, or at least youthful. The group lost a guitarist after its debut album last year, yet its guitar sound remains its strong point: the jangly melodicism of this eight-song EP's title track is early Johnny Marr-caliber, and the harmonic momentum of "Fall Right In" results in maybe the best Beach Fossils track to date, a declaration of affection that's winning in its simplicity. Read more »