Not every moment is essential, but compromise just isn't part of McKay's dazzling, defiant repertoire.  Full text...

Well, it’s not all Nellie on Pretty Little Head. Although most of the material finds McKay’s voice and keyboards up front in the mix, she is backed by a sympathetic rhythm section and a host of other musicians contributing parts on saxophone, Spanish guitar, harmonica, banjo, and more.  Full text...

Pretty Little Head basically picks up where her 2003 debut Get Away From Me left off, with McKay blending cabaret jazz, classical, pop, rock, samba, reggae and hip-hop influences into sharp musical hybrids. It's a little Norah Jones, a little Diana Krall, a little Fiona Apple, a little Tori Amos, Randy Newman and generally a whole lot of fun.  Full text...

Shed of a few tracks, Head would be a more top-to-bottom pleasing album, but it wouldn't be McKay's album.  Full text...

Pretty Little Head is better than her debut. It's less showy, more confident, tighter, lacking antics-- it's confounding stylistically, just as her debut was, but less an act of throwing ideas at the wall.  Full text...

Two years ago, New Yorker Nellie McKay startled rock fans with an act that combined Peggy Lee and the smartest girl in English class, dropping a double album of piano pop that skewered everything from meat eaters to pretentious friends. Pretty Little Head, another double album, is quieter and less snarky but nearly as fun.  Full text...

McKay got a little carried away in the production of Pretty Little Head – she should definitely leave the keyboards and drum machines to the neo-new wavers as those kinds of tricks reduce the impact of her wry, acerbic lyrics. But like no other album this year, the listener’s enjoyment will depend completely on their expectations going in.  Full text...