DANCE/HIP-HOP
After the successful launch of Fergie's solo career, the Black Eyed Peas show that there is still strength in numbers on this hump-shaking follow-up to 2005's multiplatinum Monkey Business. If you had to pick an MVPea here, though, it would be will.i.am, who redeems himself after 2007's disappointing solo foray, Songs About Girls. Serving as chief producer, Will pumps the energy of underground clubs into this disc with a fresh infusion of electro beats on tracks like the No. 1 single "Boom Boom Pow" and "Rock That Body," which samples Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock's rap classic "It Takes Two."
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Imma Be," a funky, futuristic tempo-shifter
Secret, Profane & Sugarcane |
ROOTS POP
It would be a mistake to think that Elvis Costello is hopping on the T Bone Burnett bandwagon by working with the producer who led Robert Plant and Alison Krauss to 2008's Album of the Year Grammy for Raising Sand. In fact, Costello and Burnett teamed on King of America and Spike, and they make a rootsy-good twosome here. Highlights include "Complicated Shadows," which Costello first wrote for Johnny Cash, and "The Crooked Line," with Emmylou Harris on harmony vocals.
DOWNLOAD THIS: "I Felt the Chill," a wistful, waltzy ballad co-written by Loretta Lynn
How to Be a Lady, Volume 1 |
R&B
If you're still waiting for another R&B girl group to fill Destiny's Child's pumps, this isn't it. Despite writing and production from The-Dream and Christopher "Tricky" Stewart—the hitmaking team behind Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"—Electrik Red fails to generate enough sparks on this debut. Hip-hop-inflected tracks such as "P Is for Power" and "W.F.Y." are laughably lewd, making the Pussycat Dolls look like the real ladies.
DOWNLOAD THIS: "So Good," the Princely single (with a Lil Wayne remix)
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix |
ALT-POP
Mozart himself would surely find the synth-pop on this French quartet's fourth studio album to be très cool. Breezy and bouncy, Phoenix takes you for a dreamy ride on tracks that hark back to the '80s while glistening with a modern electro sheen. The disc loses a little momentum with the instrumental atmospherics of "Love Like a Sunset Part I" and its vocal-infused conclusion, "Love Like a Sunset Part II," but the blissful hooks of songs like "Lasso" quickly rope you in again.
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Fences," a falsetto-laced, bass-lined groove
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>• Get yourself in the Broadway spirit for the 63rd annual Tony Awards on June 7 with the original cast recording of the Elton John musical, which leads with a record-tying 15 nominations.
>GREEN DAY 21st Century Breakdown Another concept album, this feels like American Idiot 2.0. Looking to the classics—the Beatles, the Beach Boys, The Who—they just may have succeeded in making a record that will still be played in the 22nd century.
DAVE MATTHEWS BAND Big Whiskey & the GrooGrux King Spiritual and spirited, this disc serves as an emotionally and musically rich send-off to that great shed in the sky for DMB saxophonist LeRoi Moore, who died last August.
EMINEM Relapse On this comeback CD, Em spits in gripping detail about his addiction to prescription pills. Also from the dark side are tales of serial killers and child-molesting stepfathers, with Dr. Dre back supplying the menacing beats.
BEN HARPER AND RELENTLESS7 White Lies for Dark Times A new backup band seems to have energized Harper, from the Hendrixian rock of "Keep It Together (So I Can Fall Apart)" to the Stonesy soul of "Lay There & Hate Me."
>• Fresh off their hit "Second Chance" (from The Sound of Madness), the rockers will tour starting July 1. We chatted with frontman Brent Smith, 31.
ON HIS SECOND CHANCE It was when my son [Lyric, 17 months] was born. That was the day I stopped doing drugs. I was addicted to cocaine and OxyContin for a long time. I had to detox. He made me understand it was no longer about me anymore. He saved my life.
ON FINALLY WRITING HIS FIRST LOVE SONG It's called "If You Only Knew." I always said I wouldn't write a love song, because there would be a massive cheese factor. But [fiancée Ashley Smith] was pregnant with Lyric during the writing of this album, and it's about her.
ON THE STIMULATE THIS! TOUR Being in a recession sucks, so we're just trying to do what we can [to cut costs for fans]. But we won't skimp on the show!
>MIRANDA LAMBERT gets to the heartache of the matter on the breakup ballad "Dead Flowers," from the country star's as yet untitled third album, due in September. $1.29 at rhapsody.com.
ROB THOMAS sparkles on "Her Diamonds," a mid-tempo pop-rocker from his second solo CD, Cradlesong, out June 30. $0.99 at amazon.com.
SEAN KINGSTON gets the party cooking, reggaeton-style, with "Fire Burning," from his second disc, Tomorrow, due Aug. 25. $1.29 at iTunes.com.
>• As the rapper-actor, 35, releases his fourth solo CD, The Ecstatic, he tells why these discs were cool inspirations.
1 CHARLES MINGUS, THE BLACK SAINT AND THE SINNER LADY It's raw and elegant, huge music. As a teenager I thought jazz was hip, cool, smart. I was interested in the heroes of jazz. I just related to those guys.
2 DE LA SOUL, 3 FEET HIGH AND RISING De La Soul is easily my biggest influence as far as hip-hop. They made it cool to be who you are. There was a place for outsiders. I was really excited to belong to this culture.
3 MARVIN GAYE, WHAT'S GOING ON Important songs that feel like they've been with you forever even when heard the first time.
4 JIMI HENDRIX, BAND OF GYPSYS I was 14, 15, and had never heard rock and roll like that. By the second song, "Machine Gun," I was blown away.
5 A TRIBE CALLED QUEST, THE LOW END THEORY So rich and seamless. Each song flows into the next, a technique I have employed.
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!
