Album: Dave Cloud and the Gospel of Power, Practice In The Milky Way (Fire)

Nashville's "garage-rock lounge lizard extraordinaire" is given to bouts of Beefheartian lyricism on his latest collection, bawled with sinister charm over grinding riffs whose function is surely to keep his muse on the rails.

Cloud's mumbling about the "grace and beauty, petals and stems" of "Flowers" is pure Van Vliet, though his lascivious relish elsewhere is less filtered than the Captain's, as he reflects about the romantic possibilities of naturism ("The Nudist Camp"), bemoans the complexions of British ladies ("Spotty Bird"), and exults about his new lover ("Sky High On My New Bimbo"). But it's hard not to like someone who writes a song about Guy de Maupassant, simply to be able to sing, "Oui, oui! I am Guy!"

DOWNLOAD THIS: Flowers; Spotty Bird; On The Rebound; Guy De Maupassant