I have a song stuck in my head. It goes, "She wanted love, love, crazy love, lovelovelovelove crazy love / Amour fou." Varying versions of this line are sung – high, fast, deep, like a banshee, not like a banshee – for a good four minutes. The rollicking rhythm of guitar, cello, violin, and bass never changes course, making "Amour fou" as catchy as it's simple. And good. Damn good. In fact, the entire debut, self-titled album by San Francisco's Vetiver is good. Every song is different and keeps your attention. The songs are folk at heart, which can drag if not done right, yet rarely are the arrangements overdone. Even the moodiest lyrics are beautifully stated: "Disenchanted stony-eyed, bored to tears but dry inside." And even the albums' bigwig guests manage not to steal the spotlight. Hope Sandoval lends her distinct voice to "Angels' Share" subtly, as if she stepped into the room and wanted only to whisper something briefly. Colm O'Ciosoig of My Bloody Valentine is in on the action too, playing drums on two tracks. On another track, Joanna Newsom fills out the harmony with her harp. Members Andy Cabic, Devendra Banhart, Alissa Anderson, and Jim Gaylord pull through with mature songwriting, full-bodied vocals coupled with tail-end quirkiness, and fleshed-out strings to keep the album first-rate. (Stephanie Laemoa)

Mushroom
Glazed Popems (Black Beauty)

I'm not sure where drummer-songwriter-indie label veteran Pat Thomas – the driving force behind Mushroom – gets the time to do everything he does. Had he only founded Hey Day Records back in 1989, he'd have plenty to talk about, but he's done much more, and Glazed Popems is his most recent project. The album is made up of two CDs: London, a tribute to the British psychedelic sound of the 1960s, and Oakland, an exploration of similar influences as they were felt closer to home a few years later. Thomas, who has a serious '60s jones, formed Mushroom as a vehicle to pay tribute to music that he loves. Glazed Popems is more ambitious and better realized than anything Mushroom's done so far. He's assembled a strong crew of musicians, led by saxophonist Ralph Carney, and they've taken Thomas's vision and run with it. On London, "(Hats Off to) Bert Jansch" is a beautiful 10-minute guitar, conga, and mellotron ode to British acoustic guitar innovator Jansch, a formative influence on rock superstars Jimmy Page and Keith Richards. Oakland is solid from end to end, but one of my favorites, the nearly 12-minute guitar-heavy "Tonight Let's All Make Love in Oakland," slides across a smooth, thick river of sound, building as it goes until, well, you get the idea. (J.H. Tompkins)

Mail stuff for review to Sarah Han, Bay Guardian Building, 135 Mississippi St., S.F. CA 94107.