Kid Silver: Dead City Sunbeams

Rollerskate Skinny—a member of the trippy, psychedelic-pop cartel that includes Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, and Radial Spangle—has broken up. Part of the band went on to form Lotus Crown, which released a forgettable debut album a few years ago, leaving fans to pin their hopes on Dead City Sunbeams, the first full-length from fellow offshoot Kid Silver. While not quite as chaotic as Rollerskate Skinny's output, Dead City Sunbeams possesses a similarly over-stimulating density. For the first half of the record, Kid Silver delivers some truly beautiful orchestrated pop. The title track, for example, is a continuously crashing narcotic wave of sweetness that's held together by a loose hip-hop beat. Those first 30 minutes include some of the dreamiest material put to plastic in recent years, akin to vintage Church or the stronger work of Echo And The Bunnymen. By the second half, though, Dead City Sunbeams becomes too laconic and repetitive; none of its songs are bad, but they lack the lush textures of the album's opening moments. Still, it's half a great record, and that's an encouraging ray of light for Rollerskate Skinny's eight or nine fans. (Jetset Records 67 Vestry St. 5C New York, NY 10013)