In this era of easy access even to inaccessible things, it's hard to believe something so worthy of notice could slip beneath our cultural radar for so long. Yet Nick Currie, a Scottish pop aesthete who's been steadily releASINg records as Momus for more than a decade, has so far managed to evade stateside detection. Late 1997 brought his first-ever U.S. release, including a compilation and a brand-new studio album, Ping Pong, poising Momus to advance from utter obscurity to a more comfortably hip position--perhaps beside Currie's hero Serge Gainsbourg or his friends Pizzicato 5 in the near-underground of pop culture. Ping Pong, with its opening theme invoking "futuristic vaudevillians," is full of dark humor, showmanship, and sophisticated cultural critiques. Songs explore fame and privacy, relish infanticide and celebrate youth, conduct a dialogue with God and express absurdly philo-Semitic views. Like all the best songwriters, Currie is in complete control of his craft. He can write in character, or in the voice of his female vocalists, and his own recordings--richly arranged but somewhat crude with drum machines and synths--suggest the possibilities for further interpretations. With songs like "Anthem of Shibuya" and "Lolitapop Dollhouse," Currie seems to cater to his largest audience, the Japanese. It's not a sellout but, rather, a further indication of his skill. In pop, giving people what they want is, after all, the art itself. --Roni Sarig
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