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** The Incredible Moses Leroy

ELECTRIC POCKET RADIO

(Ultimatum)

This is one of those sketchpad albums where you get a few really good ideas (some of them even developed enough to be songs), a little homespun ambiance, and lots of genre-bending clutter and confusion. Ron Founenberry, a/k/a the Incredible Moses Leroy (civil-rights activist Moses Leroy was Founenberry’s grandfather), is for the old-fashioned Beck fan who prefers the live-band warmth of Mutations to the squiggly electro-pulse of Odelay and Mellow Gold. Besides one sample and some drum-machine tracks, this a rocking pop album with a kaleidoscopic bend. Founenberry plays virtually every instrument.

“Anthem” is punky new wave with skinny-tie keyboard lines and wall-of-sound guitars. “Tomato Soup” is a steamy and smooth James Brown–instrumental vamp funk. The big drawback to Founenberry’s zany, “anything goes” approach is that it tends to pass off failed experiments as novelty numbers. “Our Onemillionith Customer” would have been fine by itself — imagine listening to the Beach Boys rehearse back-up vocals in an old echo chamber. But Founenberry crowds it with ’80s-style Steve Miller Band keyboards and tinny drum machines. “Treble” is dreamy pop sabotaged by what sounds like a plane flying overhead. And “Fuzzy” is a twee mix of mariachi flavors that’s more “clever” than clever.

— Lorne Behrman