Pitchfork

Nope, this is better than a Cranberries cover, thanks. "Zombies are totally scary," my Pitchfork colleague Tom Breihan once sagely opined on his blog, Status Ain't Hood. From Evil Dead 2 to Shaun of the Dead, Hollywood has been reminding us zombies can be awesomely funny, too, although I hear the undead could still fuck up some shit on this year's 28 Weeks Later.

Singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and Broadway performer Nellie McKay returns after last year's knowingly precocious Pretty Little Head (and some related major-label wranglings) with a new album, the forthcoming Obligatory Villagers. Advance track "Zombie" is cool jazz to the core, starting with its hi-hat shuffle, walking upright bass (does it eat brains?), and smoldering organ. "Do the zombie," McKay suggests, answered by good-spirited monster noises and saxophone fills. It's less overtly political than, say, the Bush-skewering moments of 2004's underrated Get Away From Me-- well, until you notice McKay moaning, "C'mon, torture's no big deal"-- but it's entertaining in a way many entertainers forget they're supposed to be. A graveyard smash.

[from Obligatory Villagers; due 09/25/07 on Hungry Mouse]