R&B has influenced a long list of rockers over the years, ranging from metal and/or hard rock bands (Living Colour, Faith No More, Primus, the Red Hot Chili Peppers) to new wavers (Blondie, the B-52s, Soft Cell, Frankie Goes to Hollywood). In the case of Illicitizen (a New York City-based male/female duo consisting of Eric Cavanaugh and Maria Zaccaro), R&B is something to be combined with art rock, alternative rock and indie rock. Their album, Feathers and Wax is best described as art rock, alternative rock and indie rock with elements of funk, soul, disco and urban contemporary. And their direct or indirect influences include, among others, Roxy Music, David Bowie, Brian Eno, the Fixx and the Talking Heads. Cavanaugh and Zaccaro do like to get funky, although the funkiness that prevails on gems like “Warsaw Six Gun,” “Orphan,” “Nothing” and “Letter for Gorky” is not the gutbucket funk of Parliament/Funkadelic, the Ohio Players, the Gap Band or Cameo. Rather, Illicitizen get funky in the way that Roxy Music got funky on “Love Is the Drug,” Bowie got funky on “Golden Years” and “Let’s Dance,” the Fixx got funky on “One Thing Leads to Another” and the Talking Heads got funky when they put their quirky new wave spin on the soul classic “Take Me to the River” (which had been a major hit for Al Green in 1974). “Next,” “Helicopters” and “No Extras” are not the work of musicians who are claiming to be R&B purists; those songs are a lot more likely to be heard on alternative r