Verbena

La Musica Negra (Capitol)
by Jamie Kiffel

This is a Jesus record. The kind of Jesus who sits in hotel drawers with The Gideons’ Bible, the one who shows up on worn truck bumper stickers and on the t-shirts of poor summer day teenagers with dirt between their toes. We’re talking jangly, twangy guitars, big dipthongs, and mentions of Jesus, salvation, and saints right between girls, devils, and “dirty goodbyes.” With titles such as “Me and Yr Sister” and “White Grrls,” you know that singer Bondy is playing to Bigfoot rallies in his mind. The mood is trashy, but there’s irony here: The sound is expensive. Truth told, someone’s prayers were answered because this was done at Sterling Sound in NYC, and any 18-wheelers you hear must be painstaking simulations. Those city slickers with their titanium mixers must’ve been fooled by the esoteric band name (imagine: “I thought it was a new age record, Ted”). The record even boasts “exclusive downloads, B-sides, videos and more.” So you needn’t feel embarrassed when these dollar whiskey tunes get stuck in your head. God bless ’em, they’re $12 cocktails in disguise.