It's not hard to get tangled up in the Name Game while listening to Dirty Beaches. Alex Zhang Hungtai's schizo romantic crooning alter ego is chillwave-ugly in name and greaser-gorgeous in execution, as defined by its many references as it is by its creeping allure. "Sweet 17" mines a few crucial touch points-- Suicide's desiccated punk wailing, the existentialism of David Lynch's ominous Lost Highway, Duane Eddy's rollicking echo rock-- to create something that slashes ligaments and hits the bone. In this moment of relentless, unchecked nostalgia, the 1950s have remained a curiously under-romanticized era, with a torrent of mystery and unmined cool ready to be pillaged. Hungtai, clearly an admirer of the decade, has a blood-red baritone that explodes into shrieks here, revealing some alien hybrid of Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. Dirty Beaches' forthcoming Badlands album splits its time between corroded dream-pop and this sort of menacing road music. Brace yourself for the pomade revolution.

[from Badlands; out 03/29/11 via Zoo Music]