You know what's cold? Alaska in Winter. That shit is really, really, really...cold.

Alaska in Winter: Berlin

You realize that when you're sick, it's impossible to listen to any music except that music you listened to you when you were sick when you were 12, right? Well that's my roundabout way of saying that for the past two weeks, I've been listening to nothing but Jewel and the soundtrack to Newsies. I've been sicker than I've been since the fall of my senior year in college, when I was living in Big Pink in Tucson, Arizona. Yes, it's The Cold That Wouldn't Die. So it took me until now to get around to Alaska in Winter, which is pretty much the exact opposite of anything you want to listen to when you can't get warm.

And not just because of the name. The track here, Berlin, is off Holiday, Brandon Bethancourt's sophomore release after last year's Dance Party in the Balkans, which was written in Alaska and not the Balkans, whereas Holiday was written in the Balkans, not Alaska. (Well, Germany, but close enough). Either way, that shit's cold: the Vocoder gives it an inhuman touch, and its sleepy and melodic electronica recalls that great winter of 1997 in Minnesota, or something around there. Some time period with a lot of North Face jackets and running around the basement of the local Lutheran church, and swimming in the high school pool. All right, maybe there's a strange comfort-food quality to it after all.

Bethancourt plays tomorrow, Feb. 7, at the 92Y Tribeca. 200 Hudson St., 8:30 p.m. doors, 9:30 p.m. show.

Alaska in Winter on MySpace

Oh, and be patient with me, please, as I slowly Tussin my way back to good health.