It's no secret that plenty of bands wear their influences on their sleeves, despite their best efforts to look utterly original. |

To that end, we find it very refreshing that Dutch gloom-popsters Bettie Serveert have decided to come out of the closet with their Velvet Underground worship by covering not one, not two, but a whole album's worth of material from the archives of Lou Reed & Co.

Since album titles are apparently not a strong suit in the Betties' camp, the longplayer -- which was released this week on micro-indie Brinkman Records -- is rather simply titled Bettie Serveert Plays "Venus in Furs" and Other Velvet Underground Songs. And, by cracky, that's exactly what Carol van Dijk and her boys do on the disc, which was recorded live in their homeland last year.

In case you want to keep score at home, the "Other Songs" are evenly divided between the Velvets' more introspective moments (highlighted by "Sunday Morning") and the brain-bending noise so treasured by aficionados. In other words, it would seem there's a little something for everyone -- unless, of course, you're of the mind that Uncle Lou didn't really hit his stride until "My Red Joystick." (David Sprague)