Tender Forever, 'Wider' (K)
Lo-fi French expat songbird gets a worm caught in her throat.
By Stacey Anderson 01.29.08 9:13 PM
Bordeaux-born Melanie Valera chased her libido through 2005's sappy The Soft and the Hardcore, and now she sounds un petit disgusted with herself. Her second album is still rife with musings about lovers and secret kisses, but her lilting voice carries a new off-key harshness that complicates matters. Combined with brisk piano and twee synth, the self-loathing-Siouxsie act almost works.
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Scarface, 'Made' (Rap-A-Lot/Asylum/WMG)
Houston gangsta-rap godfather gets back to hardtack basics.
By Thomas Golianopoulos 01.25.08 11:14 PM
On this wily Geto Boy vet's previous official solo album, 2002's The Fix, he went the Santana route, collaborating with all the top-notch talent he could schedule.
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Wu-Tang Clan, '8 Diagrams'
Was RZA networking when he should have been beatmaking?
By Thomas Golianopoulos 01.25.08 5:22 PM
It's been a rough millennium for Wu-Tang Clan. Their fourth album, 2001's Iron Flag, tanked; their most charismatic member, Ol' Dirty Bastard, died from a drug overdose; and infighting reduced the most important hip-hop crew of the '90s to a touring nostalgia act. 8 Diagrams doesn't reverse the decline.
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Monster Bobby, 'Gaps' (Hypnote)
Brit wit combines quirky and glum with endearing flair.
By Jon Young 01.23.08 11:21 PM
Number One With a Ballet
How is Big Boi's first dance piece? En pointe!
By Mikael Wood 01.23.08 11:25 AM
As anyone who saw the dance sequences in Idlewild can attest, OutKast are no strangers to ass-shaking. Yet Antwan "Big Boi" Patton had little experience in the realm of tutus and pliés before the Atlanta Ballet approached him about collaborating on a new production. "I've dated a couple of ballerinas," he says. "But I was like, 'That sounds kind of dope -- let's crank it up.'"
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Chromatics, 'Night Drive: IV' (Italians Do It Better)
Cruising down the autostrada of broken dance-floor dreams.
By Andy Beta 01.22.08 11:17 PM
Since 2002, Chromatics' Adam Miller has pared down his noisy punk band to a dance-pop skeleton, while adding singer Ruth Radelet and Glass Candy guitarist/producer Johnny Jewel for the band's fourth full-length. But who's to argue when their waifish sound -- haunted synths, ice-pick drum machines, and chilly chanteuse vocals -- is so en vogue?
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