Lots of current neo-garage settles for a trashy intimation of fear: the broken-bottle preening of the Murder City Devils, Jack White's creepy new mustache, the goddamn Groovie Ghoulies. California's Husbands aren't above this empty kitsch; the cover of their CD features a howling zombie wearing a tuxedo, and last month at the Knitting Factory they stalked the stage in hot-pantsed Elvira gear. (Résumé-wise, the terror tilt computes, since singer-guitarist Sadie Shaw also plays with debauched goths the Vanishing, and she and other singer-guitarist Sarah Reed once made an indie-rock horror film called Charm that didn't star... More >>>