Periodically, CDs and such arrive that can’t be ignored, but for all the wrong reasons. Today a CD arrived from MASS, which is short for “Music, Architecture, Sight & Sound). You can tell them because they look like the cast of Cats and Starlight Express who got dressed too quickly in the same change room. On Planet String, they play such unique instruments as the Earth Harp, the Aquatar, Wing Harp, Drub [their spelling] Orb and Drum Clouds, and on the cover, one is wearing the Violin Jacket. The press release suggests that they’re the next phase in “multi-faceted entertainments like Circue du Soleil and Blue Man Group.” My one of the ad rep’s reaction is any indication, the next phase won’t be easy to take. “If they want to torture me in Guantanamo Bay, this is what they should play,” she says.

Another artist represented by the same firm – Christina Linhardt – has already been to Gitmo “to perform as the coquette opera singer with the VampHear Circus.” You can imagine the CD from this: “One minute, she’s a hip h’opera singer, the next an exotic ethnic dancer (performing at luaus, Cinco De Mayo and St. Patty’s Day festivals) and later a performance artist exploring the passions of fairies, ghosts and witches in a festival dedicated to German song and literature.

And one solution to falling CD sales is to turn your album into a contest. McKenzie-Bruce released Berner Street, an album/puzzle based on the Jack the Ripper story, and if you solve the puzzle, you can win $10,000. Of course, you have to listen to the album to get the clues, and there’s the rub. No surprise – it’s bad, overly dramatic metal.