Curse Your Little Heart

Album Review

Denver-based cabaret/Gypsy/indie rock collective DeVotchKa's collection of four covers, a traditional piece and one new original puts to shame many artists who have tried to bridge the gap between full-length albums in the past with a hastily thrown together EP. In between a languid and lush version of "I Cried Like a Silly Boy" by Ted Thacker, and a frenzied, South of the Border carnival jam called "Zopilote Mojado," DeVotchKa manages to turn Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Last Beat of My Heart" into the anthem at the end of the world and the Velvet Underground's oft-covered "Venus in Furs" into the best 16 Horsepower song ever stuck to tape. Even the two weakest cuts, a breezy version of the Frank Sinatra standard "Something Stupid" and the dervish-like title track warrant repeated listens, making this little transient jukebox one of the best kept secrets of 2006.