Going Gaga
Posted By DARRYL STERDAN
Posted 2 months ago
Lady GaGa
The Fame Monster Dance-Pop
1/2
Barely a year after being crowned the new queen of provocative dance-pop, GaGa strikes while the iron is red-hot, releasing this 34-minute EP (available with or without her CD The Fame). As expected, club cuts full of bleep-buzz synths, thumpy beats and freaky lyrics rule the day, but some Latin Abba-pop, blues and piano-rock balladry suggest the Lady is more than a tramp.
Download: Speechless, Teeth
Rihanna Rated R R&B
1/2
"I'm not stupid in love," asserts Rihanna. Some might disagree. But few will dispute that this fourth album is her darkest disc to date, exchanging the lightweight hits of 2007's Good Girl Gone Bad for edgy, slow-burning synth-rockers full of lyrics about guns and revenge, gang warfare and Russian roulette -- and enough expletives to earn that titular rating. Call it
Good Girl Gone.
Download: Hard, Rockstar 101
John Mayer
Battle Studies Pop-Rock
Fightin' words from Mayer? Not quite. While the battle of the sexes is indeed the topic du jour on his fifth full-length, the charismatic guitarslinger spends most of these 11 tunes in sensitive troubadude mode, leading his VIP combo -- featuring bassist Pino Palladino and drummer Steve Jordan -- through a laid-back list of breezy and impeccably crafted groove-pop. Man up, bro.
Download: Assassin, Crossroads
50 Cent
Before I Self Destruct Rap
If Fiddy does sabotage his career, it won't be through innovation. The bullet-riddled millionaire's fourth solo album follows in the gangsta footsteps of its predecessors, with Curtis Jackson growling self-aggrandizing rhymes about crime, money and violence over hooky, hard-banging backing tracks from heavy hitters like Dr. Dre, Tha Bizness and Havoc. Been there, heard that.
Download: Death to Enemies, Crime Wave
Tom Waits
Glitter and Doom Live Singer-songwriter
There are two components to a Waits show: 1) The magnificently mutated blues-skronk stompfests and heartbreakingly tender ballads he dishes up and decorates with that shovelful of hot gravel he calls a voice; 2) The arcane factoids and tall tales he proffers between songs. This live CD of highlights from his 2008 tour includes one disc of each. Pity it doesn't also include a DVD.
Download: Get Behind the Mule, Going Out West
Jully Black
The Black Book R&B
Black describes her third CD as Durban Rock, which sounds like an Arabic monument but is in fact an amalgam of dance, urban and rock. True to her word, these tunes merge driving beats and crunching guitars with funky grooves and powerhouse soul-mama vocals. Whether she'll please everyone or no one is up in the air, but this unique outing is definitely one for the books.
Download: Recalculate, What is This
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DownStream
3 Picks. 3 Clicks. 3 Cool Online Tracks
Tom Petty &
The Heartbreakers
Nightwatchman
The Heartbreakers' upcoming Live Anthology is more than just a CD box set; it's also part of a full-blown online concert archive of songs, photos, set lists, reviews, essays and even audio commentaries from Petty and his bandmates. Want a free sample? You can download or stream this funky reggae-rock cut from Hard Promises, taken from a 1981 concert at the L. A. Forum. www.tompettysuperhighwaytour.com
Hot Hot Heat
Future Breeds/JFK's LSD
It seems the Vancouver dance-punks added a few new moves for their forthcoming Future Breeds album. Recorded in their own studio, these two preview tracks find the quartet pushing the sonic and musical envelope with angular 5/4 grooves (on the title cut) and glitchy synth loops (on JFK's LSD), without sacrificing the catchy hooks and choruses. Their Future looks promising. www.hothotheat.com
Tindersticks
Black Smoke
These gloomy Brits kept us waiting five years for their last CD. Thankfully, they're making up for lost time now -- their eighth album Falling Down a Mountain comes less than two years after Hungry Saw. And despite frontman Stuart Staples' eternally sombre moan, this folk-rocking preview cut suggests it might be a fairly energetic offering -- relatively speaking, of course. www.myspace.com/
CHARTS
Billboard Singles
Fireflies Owl City
Empire State of Mind Jay Sean feat. Lil Wayne
Whatcha Say Jason DeRulo
Replay Iyaz
Down
Jay Sean feat. Lil Wayne
