Critic's Choice

Over the years, prolific recording and publishing collective Sparky the Dog has issued everything from pirate- and dinosaur-filled comic books to Christmas- and Halloween-themed musical compilations. Founder Soapy Argyle -- an alumnus of Mr. Tree and the Wingnuts, the Orangu-Tones, and Marty Jones and the Pork Boilin' Poor Boys -- recently completed his second full-length with his latest act, Six Months to Live. Honey Bucket is a pop-oriented collection of amusing rural ballads and psychedelia that bridges the gap between the Kinks and Neutral Milk Hotel. Six Months, which also features bassist Shawn Sandler, drummer Mendel Rabinovitch and multi-instrumentalist Matt Shupe (soon departing Denver for an art school stint in Sarasota, Florida), tumbles through the looking glass this Friday, July 8, at the hi-dive for a CD release show with The Way Things Go and Voices Underwater. Singing songs about infidelity, isolation, politics and shitting the bed, Argyle and company boast three-part harmonies, distorted organs and an oddball brass arrangement. Time's not on its side, but the booze certainly will be.