Tribeca
Incident At The Metropolis (2005, Self-released)

Tribeca’s debut, Incident at the Metropolis is not only one of the swankiest and most well manicured pop albums to come down the pike in a dog’s age, it’s also one of the most curiously enjoyable as well. I say 'curiously' in the most charitable sense possible, in that an initial listen to pretty much anything here is likely to conjure up instant comparisons to ‘70s/’80s soft-pop. I suppose it doesn’t help dodging that comparison when you commence your album with a pair of tracks that smack distinctly of Gaucho-era Steely Dan. There’s no debating it. The better half of Incident basks in a sheik, cocktail lounge-endowed glow, but with posh arrangements a la orch-popsters The Heavy Blinkers, and some occasional Rundgren-esque inclinations, this L.A. quartet, whom would likely have been passed off as merely 'conventional', say 20 years ago, is anything but – so long as you’re willing to invest the time to let these nine sumptuous songs sink.

-Neal Agneta 9/21/05