Consumer Guide Album

DeVotchKa: A Mad and Faithful Telling [Anti-, 2008]
The most overrated band of the year (so far, so far) has never called a record Gypsy Vamps and Things. It did, however, call one Supermelodrama. Although Nick Urata can't match pipes with Richard Hawley, a plus in a way, he's hawking mellifluous overstatement flavored with a nostalgia far enough past its sell-by date that it stinks a little. Foregrounding Hungarian violins rather than Balkan brass, the Gypsy thing is more a borderline-genteel branding device. Humor is discernible in "Basso Profundo," "Head Honcho," and "Transliterator"--if you seek it out, as I am paid to do. Songs one can relate to as songs are harder to come by. B−