CADALLACA

There's only a week or two to kill before Sleater-Kinney's newest effort arrives in stores, and the trio is already booked for a show at The Bottleneck in June, but then, Corin Tucker's side project, Cadallaca, is much more than a teaser to tide over rabid S-K fans during the brief intervals between its releases. Although this album's Out West theme holds only for its cover art and its title track, a masterful murder ballad that brings to mind P.J. Harvey at her spookiest, the rest of the selections maintain the high level of quality, if not the coherency, of the concept. On "The Trouble With Public Places," Tucker's trademark powder-keg vocals blast over a punchy rock backdrop peppered with melodic organ segments. The record's catchiest tune, "Scarface," again uses organs with dazzling success, especially when all the other elements disappear during the stripped-down ending reprise of the chorus This isn't my real face, baby/It's just a scar. Emotional and irresistible, Out West proves that Cadallaca deserves the same accolades that are heaped upon Tucker's day-job outfit.