CRITIC'S CHOICE
FOLD-POP
"Give me a stage and I'll be a rock and roll queen/Your 20th-century cover of a magazine/Rolling Stone, here I come/Watch out everyone," Amy Macdonald confidently announces on her debut album. And who would doubt this 21-year-old after listening to This Is the Life (which has already hit No. 1 in the U.K., where it was released last year)? Bringing to mind a folkier, feistier version of another Scottish singer-songwriter—KT Tunstall—Macdonald digs into roots pop while adding some native accents. On tracks like the jangling title tune and the sweetly pining "A Wish for Something More," her rich, resonant voice packs plenty of power and passion.
DOWNLOAD THIS: "L.A.," a touching tale of an unrequited movie-star crush
Shwayze
POP-RAP
Rapper Shwayze—who got people "Buzzin'" about him with his MTV reality show this summer—describes this as "West Coast stoner music." And you might need to be in the same, ahem, head space to really get into this self-titled debut, which is so chilled-out it might make you zonk out. Shwayze and his sidekick, Whitestarr's Cisco Adler—who produced, cowrote and sings background vocals on all the songs—sometimes come off like the next Sugar Ray. But did the world really need that?
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Corona and Lime," the summer-breezy single
A Larum
ALT-FOLK
Singer-songwriter Johnny Flynn takes the title of his U.S. debut from a Middle English term. And this South African-born, Welsh-bred troubadour has also dabbled as a poet and a Shakespearean actor. He certainly brings plenty of old-world charm to A Larum, reviving the sounds of traditional English and Irish folk music. A multi-instrumentalist who plays guitar, violin, trumpet, accordion, mandolin, banjo, harmonica, organ and percussion on the album, Flynn is just as adroit spinning stories with vivid characters and imagery. And his lilting croon provides just the right narrative tone for these tales that take a page out of Chaucer.
DOWNLOAD THIS: "The Wrote & the Writ," a lovely, literate ballad
First Love
R&B POP
On "16@War," the first single off her debut album, this 17-year-old New York City native sings about why it's not always so sweet to be 16: "Why am I disrespected by someone I should call brother/And why girls feel unpretty and constantly hate each other." It's one of the highlights of this impressive introduction to Karina. But two old-school ballads on this R&B-pop set really showcase this diva-in-training's talent: "Slow Motion" and, best of all, the title tune, about how music is her "very first love."
For more information on where to find our Download This picks, go to people.com/downloadthis
The Arlington, Texas, mom of five, who lost 80 lbs. and won the Nashville Star crown Aug. 4, topped iTunes after one day with her hope-filled first single, "What If It All Goes Right."
JOHN MELLENCAMP
Life, Death, Love and Freedom
On one of his best albums in years, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer pairs up with Grammy-winning producer T Bone Burnett for a stark, stirring meditation on life, death, love and freedom.
NAS
Untitled
Nas may have decided not to use the N-word as the title of this CD, but it hasn't softened the impact of this hard-hitting look at the state of black America and race relations. The front-runner for best rap album of the year.
BLACK KIDS
Partie Traumatic
This new outfit comes on like a musical crossbreed of the Cure, the B-52's and Scissor Sisters on one of the hottest party discs of the summer. Best is "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You."
LITTLE JACKIE
The Stoop
Putting a modern spin on '60s soul, singer Imani Coppola and programmer Adam Pallin come up with something special. They pour on the sass—and the brass—on some lyrically wicked girl-group throwbacks.
Back with a new CD, Rocketship Run, the kids' music superstar, 39, offers tips on getting your child in tune.
1 IT'S ALL ABOUT EXPRESSION
I wrote "We Are the Dinosaurs," and it gives kids a chance to express anger, just stomp around.
2 DANCE!
Get up and actually dance with your kid. Share the experience of music with them.
3 DON'T FORGET THE LYRICS
There's an imprint when you connect to the rhythm and the words.
4 MAKE UP SONGS
It can be about whatever you're doing. Lucy [her 3-year-old daughter] would lose things all the time and I would sing, "We're Going on a Hunt." So we put it on Rocketship Run.
5 MIX UP THE MUSIC
The broader the spectrum of music they listen to, the more they'll just love music.
MICHELLE TAUBER
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
