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Consumer Guide by Robert Christgau (Image: Shearwater/Nicholas Kahn)
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DUD OF THE MONTH


Shearwater: 'Rook' (Matador)

Shearwater
"Rook"
(Matador)

With funding long at risk in the classical sector -- the crooks getting those AIG bonuses are more into Cristal and hotties -- Jonathan Meiburg is but one of many trained vocalists seeking his fortune in what is crudely classified pop. And he's had some moments. But on his most acclaimed work of art, his ecological doomshow reaches an apogee and nadir. "We'll sleep until the world of man is paralyzed," croon "the ambulance men" in a title tune about piles of dead black birds. I'll leave it to those who care to determine what exactly the birds and ambulance men are doing there. Meiburg's cultivated sweetness bespeaks contempt for the world of man as he perceives it, rendering his projections both dubious and useless, so nertz to him.

Grade: C MINUS


MORE DUDS

Antony and the Johnsons
"The Crying Light" (Secretly Canadian)

David Byrne & Brian Eno
"Everything That Happens Will Happen Today" (Todomondo)

The Fireman
"Electric Arguments" (MPL)

Janelle Monae
"Metropolis: The Chase Suite" (Bad Boy)

My Brightest Diamond
"A Thousand Shark's Teeth" (Asthmatic Kitty)

Spiritualized
"Songs in A&E" (Sanctuary)


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