*** Two Dollar Guitar

WEAK BEATS AND LAME-ASS RHYMES

(Smells Like)

A more accurate title for Weak Beats and Lame-Ass Rhymes would be Let Me Bring You Down, but that's what singer/guitarist Tim Foljahn called Two Dollar Guitar's 1994 debut. So though the NYC group's fourth album might have a name that's both misleading (it's not hip-hop, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with the beats or the rhymes) and somewhat humorous, the overall tone of the tunes within is just as bleak as that of the group's previous albums.

Foljahn writes about urban decay and the city dwellers who feed off it, and he sings in a chillingly deep baritone while Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley and bassist Dave Motamed lay down dynamic rhythms. Foljahn's sweetly melancholy guitar work adds a hazy ray of sunshine to the otherwise gloomy musical landscapes, as do the disc's handful of guest contributors -- including avant-guitarist Nels Cline, Geraldine Fibbers/Scarnella frontwoman Carla Bozulich, and Spanish vocalist Christina Rosenvinge, who brings to mind Nico's work with the Velvet Underground.

The stingingly cynical "Everybody's in a Band" finds Foljahn contemplating the current state of rock à la Pavement's "Range Life" and reaching some, well, rather bleak conclusions: "Everybody's got a script, just need someone to back it/Well, it's all about the kids and their sick and twisted kicks, it's sure to be a hit," he moans over pedal steel and a spare backbeat. Later in the song he admits, "I'm guilty of all of it," even though it's difficult to imagine anyone's having a "hit" with an album that's as much of a downer as Weak Beats and Lame-Ass Rhymes anytime soon.

-- Lydia Vanderloo