When TAFKA Prince (I always thought that made him sound like Israeli royalty) sings “Two-thousand zero zero party over oops out of time,” you know he’s going home with his choice of ladies, to ride out the end time in hedonistic glory. When Dump, aka James McNew, mournfully whispers it over a gently clattering breakbeat and a quietly gorgeous Casio drone, you know that never has a man been so out of time, that heartbreak’s apocalypse is far worse than any external chaos. It’s an utterly sublime moment, but it’s only fair to say sublime moments are dime a dozen on That Skinny Motherfucker With the High Voice? McNew can write his own glorious four-track gems as if he’s breathing the notes, but this cassette-only EP finds him covering seven Prince songs. There’s the occasional awkward phrasing (when McNew sings, “What you puttin’ in your nose,” in “Pop Life,” you get the impression he might be singing about a finger), but what’s a Dump record without a clear sense of the awkward? Most of the seven songs are astonishing. “Erotic City” disintegrates into seriously nonerotic lonely-guy feedback, but McNew pulls even that off. He renders the trauma of “When U Were Mine” all the more majestic and overwhelming for its simple, nonfidelity reading (and even puts the beloved Cyndi Lauper version to the test). Like the best covers, these songs display the skill of the songwriter and performer, and both are richer for the performances. McNew via Prince has created the perfect collection for spending next New Year’s Eve alone.;Joe Gross