Shudder to Think, “Hot One” (1998)
I have to give it up to Shudder to Think for being such great mimics. I haven’t found much satisfaction in the albums traveling under their own name, but I think their soundtrack work is routinely great. Maybe that’s because it’s at the service of a couple of my favorite movies (I know, YMMV) but it’s also because their sleight of hand is so clever and ranges so wide. Here they offer up a lost song from the David Bowie Aladdin Sane epoch—all the sweeter because Bowie had refused to license any of his music for Velvet Goldmine. Consider it a workaround. For High Art, they cobbled together a version of downtown New York fake jazz for “Artforum” cocktail parties that’s equally pinpoint and worked perfectly.
Beside: “Mom’s Mercedes” (from High Art)
More stuff at Can’t Explain.