November 18, 2013
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. In either case, the sound is big and lead-footed, using gang choruses to remind you to have fun and string sections when things stiffen and get sad. The truth? The promise that they're gonna pour their love all over you is twice as charming – and half as creepy – as the one that they're gonna keep you safe.
Le Grande Kall - 4 1/2 Stars
November 1, 2013
The Marshall Mathers LP 2 is the kind of sequel that gets people shouting at the screen in disbelief before their seats are warmed up. The first song, "Bad Guy," is seven white-knuckled minutes of psycho-rap insanity in which Stan's little brother comes back to chop Slim Shady into Slim Jims, tossing him into the trunk and driving around Detroit – listening to The Marshall Mathers LP, of course. "How's this for publicity stunt? This should be fun/Last album now, 'cause after this you'll be officially done," Em raps, playing his own killer.
November 12, 2013
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. "The Hawker (Eyesight to the Blind)" hews closer to its Sonny Boy Williamson roots; "Sally Simpson" as a sort of music-hall piano romp. Semi-acoustic versions of "Acid Queen" and "Pinball Wizard" are delicious; a minor rocker ("Trying to Get Through") and a backward-tape jam ("Dream One") appear as well. The fierce '69 live recording comes from tapes that were thankfully stashed away by the band's sound man after Townshend ordered them destroyed. They prove the music's power even without actors – just the four dudes who cooked it up in the first place.
Le Grande Kall - 4 1/2 Stars
November 18, 2013
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. This two-CD overview does him full justice, up to and including the riveting liner notes.
November 18, 2013
This EP by the costumed doom-metal Swedes (they are Ghost B.C. here for legal reasons) is a weird, appealing detour from their regular godless crunch. Produced by Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, the record features dark-chrome covers from less-obvious hells, including Depeche Mode's melancholy "Waiting for the Night," Abba's "I'm a Marionette" and the acid-casualty haunting of Roky Erickson's "If You Have Ghosts." The songs bring out the progleaning pop lurking in Ghost's bones – the Yes-like gleam in Papa Emeritus II's singing; the guitars' symphonic-fuzz decorum – while a live version of Ghost's "Secular Haze" reminds you that, in this band, the devil is still in charge of the details.
November 12, 2013
Courtney Barnett makes jangly, rumpled indie-rock in the vein of Pavement or early Dylan: Wordy, wry, and anchored by the kind of poetic clarity you can only get from looking at the world askew. Peas collects EPs released in 2012 and 2013 — an informal introduction to an artist who probably has more to offer. Its music tends to be simple, its narratives more surreal: On the highly quotable "Avant Gardener," an attempt to conquer a lazy day by planting a few seeds devolves into a panic attack, complete with ambulance. "The paramedic thinks I'm clever 'cause I play guitar," Barnett deadpans. "I think she's clever 'cause she stops people from dying." Both have a point.
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