PHOENIX

Phoenix's entry in the KITSUNE TABLOID mix series comes across as a success just by looking at the track listing, if the goal of a good personal mix of any sort is surprising but spot-on juxtapositions that draw connections between unexpected sources. Actual listening is the proof in the pudding, though, but it album justifies the initial reaction--starting with Kiss's early instrumental funk/plod "Love Theme from Kiss"--even more of a strutter than the song of the same name--and ending with Lou Reed's art statement of purpose, "Street Hassle," the cuts hop merrily back and forth between decades while still suggesting a meta-'70s above all else. In part, the most recent song choices confirm this--the Dirty Projectors' "Rise Above" has a sweetly lazy glam-rock flow not far removed from T. Rex, a perfect choice to include along with actual examples of the era like Roxy Music's "Pyjamarama," while D'Angelo's appropriately smoldering "Send It On" paired on the same disc as Irma Thomas's "It's Raining" and the Impressions' lovely slow burn "I've Been Trying," is a similar example of cross-temporal sonics and styles happily blending. Any number of art rock examples get nods--the Red Krayola's "Victory Garden" and the 13th Floor Elevators' "I Had to Tell You" from the late-'60s, Tangerine Dream's "Love on a Real Train" from 1983, the slow, sleazy sax-touched instrumental "Master Charge," from the KILL CITY sessions with James Williamson--and are appropriately off-kilter on their own. Full liner notes from the band explaining their choices add to the excellence of the whole.

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