Their sound is not unlike a band of swaggering Lotharios caught between yesteryear and today. They combine the sax-powered crunch of Morphine with the crazed-circus gypsy-swing genius of Firewater. Tom Ray’s addictive voice rasps and growls over grimy guitar, saxophone, and all kinds of slinky rhythms. Mark Whitcomb’s off-the-cuff brilliance as a guitar player is extremely engaging… —sometimes a little swing, sometimes a little Balkan, but always elusive and infectious.

There is still an und...