Relying on the singing saw, which generates a piercingly high sound guaranteed togive your dog a migraine, and employing vintage recording equipment dating back to the 1930s, Julian Koster of the Elephant 6 collective comes on like a full-fledged crackpot. But he’s a talented and engaging one. If his first Music Tapes album in nine years suggests an unhealthy obsession with Brian Wilson’s SMiLE, the wobbly-voiced outsider makes his own quaint magic, be it the gorgeously spooky “Majesty” or the sleigh-bells-plus-cheapo-organ lounge vibe of “In an Ice Palace”.
