Blitzen Trapper

Like Pavement or Will Oldham, Blitzen Trapper's first three albums have been occasionally brilliant but oft-erratic collections. That ailment is resoundingly cured on the group's new album, Furr, which ditches the lo-fi experiments of yore in favor of a more sure-footed presentation. Opener "Sleepytime in the Western World" could have been a hit for Leon Russell; other tracks respectfully evoke Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead. "Black River Killer" is the catchiest murder ballad since "Mack the Knife," and the title track is the boy-raised-by-wolves classic that Dylan has been trying to pen for years. The Trapper can't resist a little bit of tomfoolery on the medley "Echo/Always On/Easy Con" (which concludes with a funky dub-tinged jam), but it's all gravy on an LP that is well worth wearing out the grooves on.