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As always, our music critics are out there (well, ok, they're at their desks) defending your ears and wallet against ill-advised CD purchases. Here's their take on this week's crop:
Rap: Twista, Kamikaze (*** out of four) Chicago's Twista might not leap immediately to mind when you're ticking off the top-flight rappers, but one peek at his mile-long guest-appearance résumé will tell you it's obvious that others in the business have got plenty of love for the rapid-fire rhyme spitter. Jay-Z, P. Diddy, Missy Elliott, Lil' Kim, Nappy Roots and Ludacris are just a handful of the artists who have called on him to spice their hits. With Kamikaze, his first album in five years, everybody else should finally get with the program. The simmering first hit, Slow Jamz, features singer/comedian Jamie Foxx and producer-turned-rapper Kanye West (who features Twista on his current debut smash, Through the Wire). It shows that there is more to Twista than his trademark machine-gun flow — in full effect on Higher with Ludacris — and his versatility is one of the album's strengths. The booty-praising humor of Badunkadunk contrasts with the inspirational Hope, featuring Cee-Lo; the pimped-out So Sexy, with R. Kelly; and the hustlers' anthem One Last Time. It has been a long climb for Twista, but clearly it's his turn to be the main event. —Steve Jones (Audio: Slow Jamz Twista featuring Kanye West and Jamie Foxx) Pop/rock: Incubus, A Crow Left of the Murder (***) The restrained tension of past albums Make Yourself and Morning View finally bursts on this high-flying Crow, a power surge and creative leap for the alt-rock band from Calabasas, Calif. In the title track and ballad Here in My Room, Incubus makes room for the poetic and hypnotic sound it has honed over the past decade. Elsewhere, a fresh fury emerges in propulsive rhythms, dramatic guitar outbursts and Brandon Boyd's insistent vocals and charged lyrics. Disillusionment, rage and defiance mingle in tunes that condemn materialism (Zee Deveel) and a corrupt culture (Talk Shows on Mute and Made for T.V. Movie). Incubus accesses its inner wild child, but unlike the chaotic and shambolic approach taken by neo-garage outfits, the band's unleashed aggression retains the artistry, intricacy and discipline that gives its rock rants a brainy sophistication. —Edna Gundersen (Audio: Megalomaniac by Incubus) Five for Fighting, The Battle for Everything (**) As purveyors of heavy-handed, maudlin guitar-pop go, Five for Fighting frontman John Ondrasik is a pretty resourceful guy. Ondrasik's self-conscious sensitivity and bleating tenor — a higher-pitched, more technically facile variation on the crooning of would-be soul men from Eddie Vedder to Darius Rucker to Rob Thomas — were cannily used on the band's breakthrough single, 2002's Superman (It's Not Easy), and are again evident on this follow-up CD, particularly on such ingratiating, cloying heart-tuggers as 100 Years and Disneyland. Ondrasik aspires to more gracefully lyrical expression on the Todd Rundgren-esque One More for Love, but this Battle is as ploddingly earnest an affair as its title would suggest. —Elysa Gardner Harry Connick Jr., Only You (**½) After such opportunistic cheeseballs as Rod Stewart and Michael Bolton have left traditional pop fans bothered and bewildered with their clueless covers, it should be refreshing to hear standards delivered by an artist with a genuine affinity for them. But for all of Connick's elegant prowess, his vocal style still evokes a serviceable Sinatra impersonator, offering more reverence than invention. Focusing on '50s and '60s classics such as Save the Last Dance for Me and For Once in My Life, the singer/pianist and his band invest the arrangements with playful energy and a few intriguing twists. Until he more clearly defines himself as an interpretive singer, though, Connick will be viewed as a tasteful nostalgist rather than someone who does it his way. —Gardner(Audio: Only You, Harry Connick, Jr.) |
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