Freaks & Icons
Already own the entireKruder & Dorfmeisterdisography? No worries. The city of Vienna is sending more blunted beats your way in the form of Dzhian and Kamien. The downbeat capital's latest exports are much more than K&D; clones, however. This is their own special brand of Sunday morning headfunk. Turkish-flavored tracks such as "Slowhand Hussein" and "Just You & I" open theOutcastecrew's bag of table tricks and let it breathe on the back porch of the Cafe del Mar. The jazz-laced "Where Are We?" and "After" imagine theThievery Corporationout of their trademark debonair threads and in rainbow wigs and clown shoes. Dzihan & Kamien even try their hand at slightly more traditional pop structures on "Smile," in which an Edie Brickell-ish vocalist trips over a shifty typerwriter-as-rhythm-track beat. Equal parts quirk, groove, and experimentation make a pretty savory tonic.--Bob Michaels