Culture To Go

           Meanwhile, Phil Krauth has his own solo album on TeenBeat, and it blows big-time. Silver Eyes' jazz/folk/pop/new wave is pleasant enough, but Krauth the singer seems to be going for Calvin Johnson's non-singer charm: Like Balloon Guy and Pavement, he attempts to turn a basic inability to hit notes into a style. Still, there are some good songs here, some nice messy guitar strumming, and one surprising moment: a synthesizer-driven dub instrumental ("theme from lyon village"). Krauth, like Mark Robinson and Bridget Cross, should get a band. (Peter Scholtes)