Albums of the Week
Ryan Adams
“Ryan Adams”
★★★
For years, Ryan Adams’ albums could sound too studied to stick. But his 14th album (and first in three years) is an immediate grabber that keeps sinking in. The album’s self-titling makes it sound like a mission statement — both “The tantrum-throwing past is gone” and “Here’s what I can do” — and succeeds nicely on both counts. “Gimme Something Good,” the opener, could be ’80s Glenn Frey, but with considerably more muscle, and when he gets gritty on “Kim,” it doesn’t sound like a mere affectation.
“Gimme Something Good”:
Karen O
“Crush Songs”
★★★
A set of lo-fi acoustic demos, recorded around the time of the not-so-hot second Yeah Yeah Yeahs album and now out seven years later, doesn’t sound like it would necessarily be much. But “Crush Songs” is actually one of the strongest pieces of evidence that YYYs’ frontwoman Karen O has chops in pretty much every department. The writing, singing and arranging on “Crush Songs” is relaxed but never lazy; she’s in control but sounds utterly in the moment. Best of all is “Native Korean Rock”: Early-Dylan talking-blues intro, guitar that catches and holds and rises high only to suddenly stop.
“Rapt”:
Downloads of the Week
Garth Brooks
“People Loving People”
★
It’s been a while since we heard from Garth, huh? And what does he have to say? That the opposite of evil is — gosh — people loving people! Guess that takes care of that. Oh, there’s a really rank power ballad attached. Garth still sounds sincere, which is really too bad.
Interpol
“Ancient Ways”
★★
Interpol’s lean attack and polished songwriting are great — if you can get past the dumb lyrics and uninspired new-model New Wave. “Ancient Ways,” from their fifth album “El Pintor,” is typical, thanks to Paul Banks’ clunky hook: “F k the ancient ways/They are heretofore unclaimed.” Sam Fogarino’s drumming is ace, though.
Flying Lotus feat. Kendrick Lamar
“Never Catch Me”
★★★
The new face of Los Angeles hip-hop, Kendrick Lamar is also one of the most sheerly dexterous MCs going. He proves it by navigating rhymes around pretzel-shaped jazz bass on this sharp collab with fellow LA native Flying Lotus (Steven Ellison) — it’s from the latter’s upcoming “You’re Dead!”
Tricky feat. Francesca Belmonte
“Nicotine Love”
★★½
Tricky is best known for his dank trip-hop. But before things slow into a laid-back sway, this track from his 10th album, “Adrian Thaws” (his birth name), opens with a nice, hard electro keyboard stutter. The vocalists — both of them — murmur somewhat indistinctly, but that adds to the atmosphere.
Better Than Ezra
“Gonna Get Better”
★★★
Who’d have figured, of all the ’90s relics this week, the alt-rockers behind 1995’s hit-and-gone “Good” would come up with the most resonant track of the bunch? It’s welcome to hear something as plainly weighty as these lines: “We’ve had each other’s backs for 20-something years/But I don’t recognize the stranger standing here.”