Brit Pop, Roots Rock & Trip Hop

Tony Peyser
Mirror contributing writer

   When Jay Souza was around eight, he was given three cassettes by his mom: The Carpenters, Neil Diamond and Johnny Cash. Throw in a little Elvis Costello, Graham Parker and The Kinks, stir slowly and you’ll wind up with 50 Cent Haircut. 
   The L.A.-based band is a nifty combination of Brit-Pop and roots rock. They remind me of Tarbox Ramblers whose debut CD last year made my list of favorite albums from 2000. Souza and the Tarbox Ramblers hail from Boston and both bands oddly enough took a whack at the old blues song that Louis Armstrong popularized, "St. James Infirmary." 
   I prefer 50 Cent Haircut’s version which is saying something because I really liked the one Tarbox Ramblers did. The opening has some downright spooky whistling that resembles the opening credits music for a Sergio Leone spaghetti western. Souza has a sound in his voice like a door that creaks instead of shuts. He’s a cross between Jon Dee Graham (who used to be in True Believers) and Stan Ridgeway (who used to be in Wall Of Voodoo.) 
   The ominous "Black Car" has a retro New Wave vibe and cool chorus: "I don’t know who it’s coming for/I don’t know what it has in store/I’m outside waiting for a black car." It feels like Tommy Tutone’s classic hit from twenty years ago, "867-5309/Jenny" and opens with a snappy clip of Billy Bob Thornton dialogue from "U-Turn." On "Land Lord," 50 Cent Haircut gives off some pleasing Tom Petty meet The Byrds sparks. Let’s now move from the New West to the Middle East. 
   There used to be a great Lebanese restaurant along the Miracle Mile called El Amir. Besides the chicken burgers and tabouli, the other thing that drew my wife and me to the restaurant was the music. El Amir always played stuff that sounded like it was the soundtrack to a mid-1960’s cheapo spy movie shot in Bulgaria that would wind up a few decades later being mercilessly lampooned on "Mystery Science Theater 3000." I was prompted to think of this old haunt when I put on Project B, a new CD by Subthunk that has been getting played lately on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic. The project is the brainchild of Englishman Antony Neely who’s been in L.A. three years. 
   He characterizes his music as triptonica, a hybrid of funk, trip hop and acid jazz. Whatever you call it, Subthunk will cause a party of one kind or another --- or perhaps even a low-budget spy movie --- to break out whenever you put it on. It’s both fun and cheeky. My wife thought the second track, "Post Serial," sounded like music you’d hear at Judy Jetson’s prom. I can’t top that description. 
   You can pick up 50 Cent Haircut’s six-song CD for around ten bucks at www.50centhaircut.com and Subthunk’s Project B album is available at Rhino Records for $8.98. 
   50 Cent haircut is the first band in this column to make the leap from The Goofy Band Name Of The Week to actually being reviewed. Save your applause for their 10:00 p.m. February 24 gig at The Cat Club on Sunset. A film on the band will also be shot that night, so you can show up for the concert and maybe wind up in the documentary.