Tuesday, March 16, 2004

If Fever To Tell is a new girlfriend and Liz Phair is a cool ex, than Stay Away From Me, Nellie McKay's debut and the first great album I've heard this year, is someone so refreshing and breathtakingly unique that you run away from them to reaffirm that your current relationship is worth sticking with (I threw the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on immediately after, and I still feel closer to them). Like most 2CD releases, it feels a bit bloated on first listen (the big band flourishes aren't usually my thing either), but the inventive humor and blunt intelligence found here is exceptional. Plus she sings "Miccio, you give every day meaning" on a track where she says that men are worthless. Big time crushage.

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