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Jim Elkington ... of the Zinks
By Alex Green
The Zincs' Jim Elkington is the frontrunner for the new Governor of Gloom. The incumbents are still at it (Morrissey, aging gracefully, Nick Cave still singing boozy late night tales about women and ships), but the new blood is about to take over. The British-bred Elkington cuts a suave figure with his elegant, brooding brow and probing dark eyes, but it's his poetry that is most striking. "I'm so good looking/I'm going to tell you what you're all about," he promises at the start of his band's third effort Black Pompadour. And he certainly delivers. A scathing treatise on the things that happen when love falls apart, Black Pompadour is an insightful, albeit melancholic collection. From the feisty "Coward's Corral" to the regret-stained fury of "Hamstrung and Juvenile," Elkington narrates each number with morose satisfaction. Like Rimbaud, who tells us he ".wrote down silences, darkness," Elkington captures the discomfort of modern romance with the expertise of a man who has been watching people make mistakes with each other for centuries. That being said, there is indeed a certain timeless quality to the material here-gothic, sorrowful and oddly buoyant, Elkington has mastered the art of the ironic pop song. Out on tour to support Black Pompadour, Elkington took time out from his busy schedule and delivered his Consummate Top 10 albums to Caught In The Carousel.
Elkington writes: "Here are my top 10 albums of all-time for today only! All selections will be different tomorrow and I would like to add that this is in no particular order."
1. Pentangle--Basket of Light
2. Amon Duul--Wolf City
3. Sonic Youth--Sister
4. The Smiths--Hatful of Hollow
5. Robert Wyatt--Ruth is Stranger than Richard
6. King Crimson--Lizard
7. Fred Frith--Gravity
8. France Gall--1968
9. The Go-Betweens--Before Hollywood
10. This Heat--Deceit
The Zincs' Black Pompadour is out now on Thrill Jockey
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