Erotic White Chocolate Store

Cortney Tidwell “Society” – Cortney Tidwell’s Don’t Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up maintains a drowsy, mellow tone throughout its sequence, but skips around between various permutations of ethereal drones, zoned-out folk balladry, and ambient electronic tracks that recall the work of Lali Puna and Bjork. She never sounds quite sure whether she would rather be Cat Power or Thom Yorke, but her taste in texture and melody is solid and I vastly prefer this sort of creative restlessness to the monochromatic efforts of other similar artists. “Society” breaks from her patterns somewhat, settling into a narrow, jazzy groove that bears down on the listener without feeling even slightly heavy, sort of like being smothered with exceptionally soft pillows. Tidwell’s voice is shadowed by the rich baritone of Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner, but his presence is decidedly ambiguous, leaving the audience to wonder whether he’s there to represent a malign outside force, a guardian angel, or judging by the lyrics, a stifling combination of both extremes. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Tom Scharpling & Jon Wurster “The Hero’s Call” – This skit from last week’s episode of the Best Show on WFMU is another successful formal experiment from Scharpling and Wurster. The call has a proggy sort of trajectory, kicking off as a friendly discussion of current events that heads off into creepy psycho-drama territory before shifting quite radically in tone for a rambling, hilarious discussion that touches on Shakespeare, an unbelievable dvd box set, and the secret lives of newscasters. (Click here for the Friends of Tom site.)