Lyle, WA-dwelling ("on the grounds of a Columbia Gorge Winery")/Portland, OR-recording Dustin Hamman fortunately feels no such inhibitions about making whimsical music. Steeped in classic folk with occasional zippy hints of 30s jazz, and using a singing style filled with pints of enjoyably exaggerated syrup, Hamman sometimes sounds like Squirrel Nut Zippers or Violent Femmes backing Oingo Boingo's Danny Elfman -- or Ken Page as Oogie Boogie in Elfman's The Nightmare Before Christmas music. His uninhibited zest is matched by the joy in the arrangements (try "The Afterlife, Pt. 1"), with twinkling bells, flamenco trumpets, starlit French accordion (which reminds of Amélie), brush percussion, and lots of twitching-playful acoustic. Just try not to like this! You'll fail.
The old-time folk and swinging acoustic jazz from Portland's Run On Sentence was a big fat welcome surprise to my ears this afternoon. Shaking the dust off a style rich with history and oft forgotten in pop music, Dustin Hamman and company have created a fiery and original record—and yes, it's about time someone brought back the scat.Run On Sentence - "Carrie Pt. 2" (from Oh When The Wind Comes.
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 "Oh When the Wind Comes Down.")
