The Platinum Pied Pipers

From the gospel boogie of "Smoking Mirrors" to the bopping "On a Cloud," the Platinum Pied Pipers' second album has a swooshing, retro soul vibe that is as catchy as it is passe. But, unlike Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse or other post-millennial soul nostalgists, P.P.P. are more interested in subverting R&B's mythological golden age than they are in honoring it. With its austere strings, punchy rhythm and teasing lyrics, "Go, Go, Go" is trashy glam funk, while the spare, reverential "Sanctuary" is sublime psychedelic melancholy.