The alternative hip-hop slacker known as
Elwood earned some radio airplay with an earthy cover of
Gordon Lightfoot's anti-hip 1974 hit "Sundown." As with the debut by another folky hipster -- namely, Beck -- there's a bit more going on here than you'd suspect from the lightweight hit. Though the songs aren't uniformly solid, the productions are smart and catchy, from the jazzy brass on "Red Wagon" and "Picture of You" to the sitar on "Forty Five" and the jungle-fueled "Dive." Though a pair of songs -- "Peaches" and the Donovan-sampling "Bush" -- make him sound more like a horny frat boy than a hip singer/songwriter/rapper,
The Parlance of Our Time is a creative, entertaining record. ~ John Bush