"The Hustler is a richly diverse suite as exploratory as its predecessor was stark. Chiseled at the edges, Klein's ugly-pretty voice is reminiscent of Buffalo Tom's Bill Janovitz or an ashes-strewn Paul Westerberg. Ani DiFranco and Soul Asylum's Dave Pirner guest too, soothing Klein's characters through various states of emotional flux. Urban gothic par excellence."
- Uncut Magazine - Album Of The Month - August.

More press after the jump...

"The Hustler" is a career peak, the sort of record that mumbles game in your gal's ear and ushers her out the door. (4 Stars)
– Austin American Statesman.

"The third release from this Austin-based songwriter, recorded in New Orleans, is positively dripping with decadence. The title track, with its spare arrangement, sets the stage with a cinematic nocturnal romanticism suggesting early Tom Waits or Leonard Cohen. With production from Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs) and Mike Napolitano (Joseph Arthur), The Hustler is a raw, melodic tapestry from start to finish."
- Performing Songwriter.

"As a protégé of notorious cad Greg Dulli, Austin's Jeff Klein is cut from the same crushed-velvet cloth, the disheveled Don Juan who's irresistible and knows it. Given Dulli's production of The Hustler, Klein's third LP, it's not exactly surprising that the album's contents are postmarked from the corner of narcissism and despair."
- Austin Chronicle.

"Jeff Klein wants to sex you up--indie-rock style. Between his raspy voice and intimate Southern gothic slow jams, who could resist?"
- Dallas Observer

"This is soulful, downbeat heartbreak music, rich in melody and late-night/early morning texture with the grace and nuance of (Wilco’s) ‘Summerteeth.’"
-Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Dark and Insightful Work" - Amplifier

"Hustler is a beautiful dark gem that walks a knife-edge of vulnerability to the place where need becomes its own strength. This is pop music that seeks numbness yet reveals the pure poetic wreckage of a broken heart as its exposes its wound-and its teeth." - All Music Guide

"The Hustler is a night in the Big Easy with Klein polishing unrequited love songs with a swinging brass section and punctuating vocal lament like "Pity" with raw, electronic beats custom made for Bourbon Street's seediest strip joints."
- CMJ