This showcase of two L.A.-based offbeat singer-songwriters presents us with Anny Celsi, a beatnik-cool performer who veers from poppy, bouncy beats to jazzy piano bar riffs and sexy come-ons. With songs inspired by pulp fiction (and prose to accompany them), she’s sensitive but no wimp and a fellow traveler to Aimee Mann and Sheryl Crow. The “pop noir” soundtrack of her solo debut, Little Black Dress, wears a veneer of L.A. Confidential style. Kaz Murphy is a roots performer who revels in country, bluegrass, rockabilly and the occasional Irish jig. With a more-than-slightly skewed mind, fans of early Dylan and Phil Ochs will find Murphy’s rich imagery enticing; it particularly transforms Jimi Hendrix’s “Castles Made of Sand” into a whole nother song. Murphy’s Americana is alternately dark, humorous and heartbreaking.
This article appears in Jun 19-25, 2003.
