Nick Jonas "Who I Am"
Only 17, yet the littlest Jonas Brother does everything possible to distance himself from his teen idol status on the debut from his side project Nick Jonas & the Administration. The band includes veterans of Prince's New Power Generation. The band strays away from the kid-bop sounds and into slick blues rock instead of Radio Disney-friendly power pop, and odd political touches punctuate the lyrics. The 10 songs, all written or co-written by Nick, range from pretty good (Stevie Wonder sound-alike "State of Emergency") to pleasantly surprising (an overhaul of "Tonight" from the Jonas Brothers' 2008 smash "A Little Bit Longer") to, well, material that sounds like a vanity project from one-third of a hugely successful band. But the real shortcoming is the embarrassingly dated production.
Lil Wayne "Rebirth"
The previous time "Rebirth" was scheduled to hit stores, in late December, the last-minute decision to bump its release came so quickly that Amazon sent out 500 copies to customers who'd pre-ordered the CD before yanking it. Wayne's management says that, as a consequence of that goof, the new version is a reboot, with unheard material. But another round of tweaks seems insufficient to improve this ghastly hash of Auto-Tune and nu-metal guitars; as they say on "Project Runway," we have to question Weezy's taste level, at least when it comes to rock music. Even Eminem can't lift "Drop the World," which boasts all the bravado but none of the hooks of Europe's "The Final Countdown," and the cheesy keyboards on "On Fire" sound like they were sampled from the theme from "Fame." We patiently will be waiting for "The Carter IV."
Rob Zombie "Hellbilly Deluxe 2"
Was supposed to come out last year, but finishing his version of "Halloween II" got in the way. Better late than never, the album picks up more or less where Zombie's 1998 solo debut left off, serving up a fun and raunchy mix of heavy metal ("Sick Bubblegum"), garage rock ("What?") and gory, B-movie kitsch ("Mars Needs Women"). This one was written and recorded with his longtime touring band, which includes former Marilyn Manson sideman John 5 on guitar. And since it looks like cd's mught be a knick-knack of the past, Zombie decided to splurge on the packaging, roping in graphic artists Dan Brereton, Alex Horley, David Hartman and Sam Shearon (aka Mr. Sam) to contribute original pieces that reflect his camp yet grisly visual aesthetic.
Charlotte Gainsbourg "IRM"
This french actress ("The Science of Sleep," Lars von Trier's controversial "Antichrist") has never wanted for musical collaborators: Her father, the legendary and licentious Serge Gainsbourg oversaw her earliest work, while Air, Jarvis Cocker, the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon, and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich all worked on her 2006 full-length "5.55." For her latest release, Gainsbourg teams with Beck, who produced the thirteen-track album, and also composed the music and co-wrote lyrics for all but one song. Gainsbourg's breathy vocals will never give Mariah Carey pause, but she radiates commanding presence, and seems equally at home on tunes with a vintage pop sensibility ("In The End" recalls François Hardy at her dreamy '60s best) and experimental fare (the crunchy, percussive "Master's Hands").
Other New Releases Worth Checking Out:
(Have not listened to, but please feel free to post a review)
* Midlake: "Courage of Others"
* Nneka: "Concrete Jungle"
* George Winston: "Love Will Come: The Music of Vince Guaraldi, Vol. 2"
* Vedera: "Stages"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment