By now you’ve probably heard of COG, that is, the Consortium of Genius, the ever-expanding melange of nerd-rock showoffs happily pursuing world domination under the direction of mad scientist Dr. Milo T. Pinkerton III (who may actually be one Lewis D’Aubin IRL). Further muddying the waters, Lewis—never one to let a sci-fi trend go to waste—debuted the Confabulation of Gentry, a steampunk version of COG now doing business, with the addition of some new collaborators, as the New Orleans Steamcog Orchestra.

If you were expecting some darkwave, industrial cabaret, however, or even gypsy jazz—forget it. After the opening “Circus of Nightmares,” during which he accurately nails that Brecht-meets-Elfman dark carnival thing that’s swept over the city, he mostly settles into a selection of wacky trad-jazz, both his own (“28 Skidoo,” “Top Hat,” “Taco Supremo”) and others (takes on standards like “Sheik of Arabi,” “Tiger Rag,” and “Bill Bailey”).

It’s fun, but not as much as COG’s original “Mystery Science Theater 3000”–meets–”Spinal Tap” construct: The covers are mostly hokey, ornamented as they are with lots of cartoonish xylophone and slide whistles, and the originals don’t have that mad scientist elan. The steampunk movement may not need a version of “Darktown Strutters’ Ball” which merely replaces “taxi” with “airship,” and “Ragtime Gal” (here titled “Hello My Baby”) should probably be left with Michigan J. Frog.

Yet there are a few spots where you can see the Orchestra’s full potential. Lead singer and Round Pegs vet Tiffany Pollack does a damn fine job tackling both Josie Miles’ “Mad Mama Blues” and the deathless hidden cover “Buddy Bolden’s Blues,” and in their finest moment, the Orchestra transforms an old COG favorite, “Everyone Dies (But Me),” into some menacingly hilarious Sweeney Todd outtake. As for the rest, well, going Victorian is a bad time to lose your morbid edge.