Greens Keepers ‎– Present The Ziggy Franklen Radio Show

The Greens Keepers, with their we’ll-try-anything sensibility, seem to be the hillbilly cousins of the Freaks, throwing together a variety of influences and seeing what sticks. And for the most part, their debut THE ZIGGY FRANKLEN RADIO SHOW sticks together quite nicely. The conceit of the album is the fictional DJ Ziggy Franklen, who interjects between songs with the sort of inane chatter you hear coming from your college radio station. As for the songs themselves, “Upgrades” is a thorough funk workout, while “Fluid” is a more easygoing. But the beats don’t really kick in until “Dark Sky,” with its Santana-like guitar chords and smart kick drum. “Mesoptamian” is a crazed hippie-house-jam. The real gems on this album, however, are the down-home country banjo-inflections of “Low and Sweet” and “Dixie Gan” -- wonderfully catchy and fun, with more than a hint of cheekiness. After those two powerhouses, the rest of the tracks seem somewhat lackluster, but a few shimmers come through: the Spanish guitar in “DC Minor”; the whistling in “Big Noise”; or the downtempo jazziness of “Daughter of the Sun.” While not exactly groundbreaking, this album is fun, and that counts for a lot.