Music picks

Advocate, The, July 15, 2008

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LADY GAGA

The Fame

STREAMLINE/INTERSCOPE

This lady makes smartass dance music with downtown attitude to spare--kind of like Madonna back when she was still having fun.

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THE DUTCHESS AND THE DUKE

She's the Dutchess, He's the Duke

HARDLY ART

Garage rock vets take a detour into grubby urban folk territory. The songs are as distinctive as their spelling.

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NICO MUHLY

Mothertongue

BRASSLAND

Ten disturbing yet delirious vignettes from this modern classical whiz kid, a colleague of Bjork, Antony, and Rufus Wainwright.

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RON SEXSMITH

Exit Strategy of the Soul

YEP ROC

The Canadian troubadour who cowrote Feist's "Brandy Alexander" intoxicates with his latest quirky singer-songwriter set.

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WILLIE NELSON AND WYNTON MARSALIS

Two Men With the Blues

BLUE NOTE

Giants from two genres join forces for a set of blues, country, and standards. It shouldn't work, but it does. And beautifully.