Yes, everyone’s favorite industrial/swinger/comedy duo is back, and if you haven’t heard them, skip the opening track on this second disc. “Very Much” is a rare instance where the joke (flipping off everything and everyone, especially the music industry) isn’t strong enough to carry the homemade music. The title track is the real (eye)opener, with Miss Kitty Baudoin sizing up (and sleazing up) the state of said industry over a track that sounds as if Trent Reznor went cabaret. This is the appeal, and a selective one it is. Yet they bring the songcraft most of the time, as they did on their debut In a Failing Third World Nation, certainly the weirdest of the “proud to swim home” manuals. When you dare to write a tribute called “Westerberg,” for example, it better be catchy and witty. (Happily, it is.)

Miss Kitty gets more of the spotlight this time—the Mary Woronov to Warren America’s Paul Bartel—and it provides a better foundation for their twisted vision. For example, are her vocals on “Birthday” a snide aside at the party or a come-on in the kitchen? It’s indicative of the fascinating inscrutability of Southern Sexual, which comes with an arsenal of offhand f-bombs and the usual sidecar of S&M titillation. And while the state of rock and roll may not be as meaty a subject to coalesce around as the crumbling state of the city, it does help prove that Southern Sexual aren’t just a one-joke band. Even if they are a couple of horndogs at heart. “Send our love to Mr. Spitzer,” Kitty orders repeatedly at the end of “Pay to Play.” Yes, Mistress.