The Bundles/ The Bundles

The Bundles
The Bundles
(K Records)

In what's surely gotta be the super group of the month, The Bundles features the talents of Kimya Dawson, Jeffrey Lewis, Jack Lewis, Anders Griffin and Karl Blau.
It was of course Moldy Peaches that introduced Lewis to Rough Trade, involuntarily shipping him over to the UK, and their friendship goes back to the early days of the anti-folk scene. But screw all this history, let's check out the record.
As you can imagine, the Velvets are hanging around in the background here ('Shamrock Glamrock' features the same overlapping spoken word technique as used in 1969's 'The Murder Mystery'), while the spirit of a carefree summer informs the tone of the record - 'A Common Chorus' advises us "don't forget about your friends" over a merry sea shanty.
The contrast between co-singers Dawson and Lewis is yet another plus for the record: Dawson sounds naive and tipsy, Lewis croaks like a crocodile.
Whether you're familiar with these artists or not, The Bundles have made an ace summer album which could be enjoyed by anybody: its writers clearly had a ball rapping off each other's imaginations, and you will too.