November 19, 2013
Seven years after he placed on American Idol, Chris Daughtry and his band are opening up their would-be grunge to more nuance: folk instruments and synths, smoother high notes tempering Daughtry's bellow, "boom-b'boom" vocal-bass hook lightening the gender war in "Battleships." The sound on Baptized somehow links U2 to Rascal Flatts, adding Springsteen stances in "Wild Heart." More unexpectedly, there's also a banjo shuffle where Daughtry chooses Van Halen over Van Hagar, catalogs some of his other heroes and wonders who wrote Hole's songs. "Long Live Rock & Roll," it's called – a defense, perhaps, against anybody claiming guys like him helped kill it.
2) Matangi, Interscope
November 5, 2013
If Maya Arulpragasam has a persecution complex, she's earned it. "Let you into Super Bowl/You tried to steal Madonna's crown/What the fuck you on about?" she spits on "Boom Skit," conjuring her haters: generic racists, critical magazine profilers, and the NFL litigators reportedly suing her for $1.5 mil for her bird-flip during her 2012 halftime performance with Madonna. It's a telling moment on her fourth LP, a mixtape-style mash-up of political provocations, ripostes, tough-gal love songs, neon DJ memes and ass-whooping South Asian-spiced beats. Like Kanye West, M.I.A. seemingly needs haters for fuel. On Matangi, her tank's full.
The standouts are rewinds: "Bad Girls," the Arabic-flavored club anthem from the 2010 Vicki Leekx mixtape, and "Come Walk With Me," a lover's proposal teased last year in a video post, here reworked with echoes of her signature "Paper Planes." It furthered the rumor Matangi would be a "positive" LP, but even her bedroom-R&B attempts – "Exodus" and "Sexodus" – are skeptical interrogations. She shows little need to resolve contradictions or make her dazzling scraps cohere. But the magic is in the frisson. "Preach like a priest/I sing like a whore," goes the quilt-like, Switch-produced title track. And the contradictions keep coming.
The standouts are rewinds: "Bad Girls," the Arabic-flavored club anthem from the 2010 Vicki Leekx mixtape, and "Come Walk With Me," a lover's proposal teased last year in a video post, here reworked with echoes of her signature "Paper Planes." It furthered the rumor Matangi would be a "positive" LP, but even her bedroom-R&B attempts – "Exodus" and "Sexodus" – are skeptical interrogations. She shows little need to resolve contradictions or make her dazzling scraps cohere. But the magic is in the frisson. "Preach like a priest/I sing like a whore," goes the quilt-like, Switch-produced title track. And the contradictions keep coming.
3) Luscious Jackson, magic hour
November 5, 2013
Luscious Jackson were to New York freestyle dance pop what their cohorts the Beastie Boys were to hip-hop: a sly subculture riff that delivered the goods with a wink. On this tight, 10-song reunion (minus singer-keyboardist Vivian Trimble), vocals still waver charmingly off-key, grooves still conjure a Nineties Lower East Side rent party. "You are my male J.Lo/Your jeans fit nice/ What's your price? . . . I have no pride," chants Jill Cunniff on "#1 Bum," a shout-out to a fine rump that rides a punky reggae groove. Homeboy Adam Horowitz lends a production hand for "So Rock On," a sexy midtempo jam whose title sums up the ethos here. Welcome back, ladies.
4) Le Grand Kallé
His Life, His Music Stern's Africa
4.5/5
In the Sixties and Seventies, Le Grand Kallé remapped an entire continent's music. He adopted Cuban rumba and became the first Congolese musician to record with an electric guitar. His "Independance Cha Cha" (1960) was the soundtrack of a revolution, and his bands spawned world-historic bandleaders Manu Dibango and Tabu Ley Rochereau.5)
The Wanted
Word of Mouth Island
2/5
The Wanted are a boy band with a man's disposition: They drink, they get into arguments, and they tend to see women as passive creatures waiting around in heels to be redeemed or get their hearts broken. They cloak their casual misogyny in trying to look sensitive, alternating rakish club pop like "Walks Like Rihanna" with post-Coldplay ballads in which everyone gets a chance to brood.6)
The Who
5/5Tommy: Super Deluxe Box Set Geffen/UMe
10
As the first popular "rock opera," Tommy has plenty to answer for. But measured against pale 21st-century Broadway offspring, the Who's magnum opus still rules. Besides an impressive book, the news on this box is a virtually complete set of Pete Townshend demos, with the composer's warm tenor taking lead on every song. It makes for remarkable alternate versions. Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews?page=2#ixzz2lI81Ya3M
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