Death By Chocolate “Death By Chocolate″ 2001. Siesta Records (Spanish import) on chocolate colored vinyl (of course). Mary Quant-esque 60′s swinging London psychedelic art rock: a mix of spoken word/poetry “vocals” – think Nico but with less singing and icy Germanic vibes and more poppy English schoolgirl poetry recitation (Angela Faye Tillet, Death By Chocolate’s vocalist, was a teen she recorded this album and possibly lifted the lyrics from her grammar school inspiration notebook) – plink-plunk organ and a breezy air of mod paisley – see “The Land of Chocolate” in particular (“Kit Kats…mmmmm, crunch. Instant satisfaction.”). It’s really weird and really cool. Death By Chocolate (the band) was formed by British indie pop A&R man Mike Always, who got Tillet (at the time 19 years old and working as hotel chambermaid), Matty Green from Boyracer, producer/composer Jermey Butler and John Austin together to record Death By Chocolate. The instrumentation would be right at home on any early Pink Panther soundtrack (like “Daddy’s Out of Focus”). My top tracks include “Magpie,” “My Friend Jack” (a cover originally by Smoke), “Ice Cold Lemonade” (great 60′s organ on this one), “Rainbow With ‘a’ Underneath & an Elephant” (a song as loopy as the title would indicate) and “If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out,” a Cat Stevens cover (which completely endeared the record to me) –  that is really the only song that Tillet actually sings on, sounding a bit like Meg White.