Ben Harper and Relentless7
Album: White Lies for Dark Times (EMI)
In stores: Now
Why we care: Ben Harper has been a lot of things: bluesman, folk singer, crazy-sick slide-guitar specialist. But what the 39-year-old has never been is obvious. Same goes for this sexy, gritty, great rock album; it's hip, headphone-trippy and casually removed from anything overtly commercial — although you could make one wild clothing ad with the slippery blues-rock wallop of Why Must You Always Wear Black. Kapow!
Why we like it: Harper is a restless collaborator; in 2005, he won a soul-gospel Grammy with the Blind Boys of Alabama. Here he teams with Austin-L.A. trio Relentless7, and together they unload fever ballads and gutbucket thrills.
Reminds us of: Lenny Kravitz for indie kids
Download this: Lay There & Hate Me
Grade: A
Chairlift
Album: Does You Inspire You (Sony)
In stores: Now
Why we care: Dream-pop trio Chairlift originally formed not to sedate, but to spook: The Brooklyn band wanted to make background music for haunted houses. (That might be the coolest job EVER, but I digress . . .) Instead, vocalist Caroline Polachek & Co. opted for lush, synthy, gauzy soundscapes with vaguely creepy underbellies. Think Brian Eno on MTV. Or maybe Ennio Morricone as a high school frosh.
Why we like it: Chairlift's breakout single Bruises (plucky, but ominous: "I tried to do handstands for you . . .") was featured on a commercial for iPod Nanos, making the naughty nursery rhyme a fast, unlikely hit.
Reminds us of: Remember Mazzy Star?
Download these: Bruises and Garbage
Grade: C+
David & David
Album: Boomtown (Fontana A&M)
In stores: Now
Why we care: I just bought David & David's 1986 Boomtown album on sweet, glorious vinyl. Cost? $1. (Thanks Daddy Kool in St. Petersburg.) The album, still available on CD, and still vital after all these years, is a bleak dissection of '80s L.A. It spawned two MTV hits, Welcome to the Boomtown and Swallowed by the Cracks.
Why we like it: "The ambulance arrived too late / I guess she didn't want to wait . . ." The poetic, piercing Davids were Baerwald and Ricketts, and the Cali stars were sparring partners at best. David & David were one & done after this masterpiece, but they later helped on Sheryl Crow's Tuesday Night Music Club.
Reminds us of: Robert Downey Jr.
Download this: Welcome to the Boomtown
Grade: A
SONG OF THE WEEK
3OH!3
Song: Don't Trust Me
Album: Want (Photo Finish)
In stores: Now
Why we care: I hated this song when I first heard it. But then 3OH!3's smart-alecky club hit was cranked right before Katy Perry took the stage in St. Pete last month, and I got all caught up in the crowd bounce-along. Yep, just me and 1,000 15-year-old girls getting silly with it. Wheeeee! These Boulder, Colo., electro-poppers are pretty annoying, but I dig that synthy chorus. Am I right, kids? Wheeeee!
Why we like it: "She wants to touch me! Woo hoo!" Don't Trust Me, a huge hit on iTunes, hovers in the novelty-song genre, somewhere between "Weird Al" Yankovic and Andy Samberg's Lonely Island. The disposable song is perfect for dark, dizzy discos: loud, obnoxious and puffed up with get-crazy crescendoes.
Reminds us of: Angry White Boy Polka
Grade: C+
Loading...