A much-needed CD issue of an LP, released this last February in microquantities. The dastardly minds behind this project, a first spurt from the reactivated Poon Village label, have collaborated on the new package as well. And it is a deluxe eye-swim through various forms of feminine beauty, its 32-page booklet displaying images that look as though they were found in a smoky catacomb carved into the hills of Charlestown. By my count, Baroque Primitiva is the sixth album by Alvarius B. and is, like its predecessors, a deep dive through mysterious waters. The 11 tracks here were recorded at various sessions over the course of several years and range from 'Humor Police' (a track imagining what Syd Barrett might have sounded like had he been a devotee of Rembetika) to a trippily Beatles-damaged version of 'You Only Live Twice' (the sole surviving shard of the aborted Alvarius B. Plays The Bond Songbook project). Baroque Primitiva is the first long-format telegram from Alvarius B. since he lost his mothership (the Sun City Girls, with whom he employed his slave name, Alan Bishop) and it also feels like his most consistently non-acerbic -- perhaps even most beauty-oriented -- work. The songs often have a meditative pace, filled with gorgeous lo-fi blends of vocals, guitar, bass and keys. Eyvind Kang guests on several tracks, but the bulk of the material was broadcast direct from the naked soul of Alvarius B., which turns out to be a warmer, sweeter place than you might imagine. And while this CD will be available for a tad longer than the 30 seconds the LP lasted, a set as thoroughly gorgeous as this will not linger. Take a deep breath of its magic and go for it. Why deny yourself such bountiful pleasures?" --Byron Coley