This Is The Glamorous is being advertised as a concept record. Before you huff and puff and think, "Oh, how pretentious," don’t forget that behind New Wet Kojak’s slinky curtain is Scott McCloud, the pop-culture catchphraser who’s also "vox 1" for Girls Against Boys, a band that knows a lot about this album’s subject. The concept here is glamour, baby, not a shattered love affair or an epic metaphysical journey. And it’s no surprise: McCloud has been gleaning his lyrical inspiration from neon-lit Times Square signs and glossy magazine ads for years now. Equally, he waxes about the effects of this rampant marketing and the mindset of our oversold nation. Glamorous finds McCloud intently exploring these themes as NWK creates a blue-black 4-a.m. vibe with bleary bass, hip beats, the caress of saxophone, ambient keyboards and his seductive-yet-sinister voice. They get all hot and bothered occasionally, namely on the very GVSB-like "Supermodel Citizens USA" and "Reverse The Curse," which grooves noisily and compellingly with swelling sax and guitar blasts. The album’s thesis statement, "World Of Shampoo," is pierced with electronic squalls and raspy intonations about product lines. Like ad-agency execs, McCloud knows that anything and everything (shampoo, cigarettes, people) can be glamorous if successfully portrayed that way. But his counter-lyrics ("you’ll never affect me," he sings) show he’s much too aware of what’s beneath the glossed surface to simply believe and buy. [Beggars Banquet, www.beggars.com]
