Nourished by Time's Marcus Brown has the ear — in an age when trendy '80s revivalism has already lived and died a thousand times, Brown's mode of decade-specific vibe-mining sounds genuinely fresh and fittingly nourishing. Folding glittery freestyle, lean post-punk and sweeping Blue Nile-esque sophistipop into his own potent blend, Brown makes music both stylish and open-hearted, the kind of songs equally suited to leaning out of car windows or weeping on the train.
From the affirming pop perfection of "Shed That Fear" — which channels the alien gentleness of Arthur Russell as much as it does the titanium bounce of Depeche Mode — to the bruised exuberance of "Daddy" or the crashing waves of R&B-laced closer "Unbreak My Love," Erotic Probiotic 2 is a wonderland, a lushly and unselfconsciously rendered world of deep blues and purples — it does a body good.
(Scenic Route Records)From the affirming pop perfection of "Shed That Fear" — which channels the alien gentleness of Arthur Russell as much as it does the titanium bounce of Depeche Mode — to the bruised exuberance of "Daddy" or the crashing waves of R&B-laced closer "Unbreak My Love," Erotic Probiotic 2 is a wonderland, a lushly and unselfconsciously rendered world of deep blues and purples — it does a body good.