OUTKAST IDLEWILD (2 1/2 stars)
Downhill: "Makes No Sense At All," with its chorus, "blah, blah, blah blah"—that's the actual chorus—might be the worst OutKast song ever made.
Uphill: an energized Lil Wayne and Snoop on "Hollywood Divorce"; Big Boi is hilarious on the "Buggface." Downhill: Idlewild literally ends on a bad note, a rambling, eight-minute-plus track appropriately called "A Bad Note." Now, I'm all for pushing hip-hop's envelope because it doesn't get pushed enough. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below proved that by taking a different approach to hip-hop, you can collect fans across the spectrum. What it didn't prove was that diehard fans fully embraced OutKast's new separate-but-equal approach to music and Dré's newfound love of singing (or at least trying to). The group achieved its lofty status by teamwork and rhyming. They're doing a disservice to the legacy by continuing to present disparate parts as a cohesive whole.
Damon Hodge
KELIS KELIS WAS HERE (3 stars)
Kelis' fourth album is an interesting, and curious, disappointment. It is at once the iconoclastic R&B singer's most sprawling release to date, as well as her most hemmed-in. With her usual restlessness, Kelis flits about, trying on different styles (glitter-rock shout-outs, P-Funk synth romps, sultry ballads), but there's a puzzling lack of personal commitment invested in the material, and her performance isn't always up to the level of sonic adventurousness provided by a host of different producers (three or four too many producers, perhaps).
Take "Like You": Musically, it's a striking track, constructed around a wigged-out operatic vocal sample, but a dozen listens in I still can't tell you what Kelis herself brings to it. Ditto "Bossy," the first single, which, for all its sparse musical excellence, ultimately wilts under the weight of a hook—a rather corny hook—that pales next to previous radio mind-benders like "Milkshake" and "Caught Out There" (the truth is, my last boss was more intimidating).
I'm tempted to say Kelis herself needs to try harder here, but on the freestyling "Circus," she sounds like she's winging it entirely, and it's the album's best performance. At one point during her rap she casually suggests that the track might not even make the final cut. It does, and I'm grateful for it, but the thought itself is kind of revealing.
Scott Woods
CUT CHEMIST
THe AUDIeNCe'S LISTeNING (3 stars)
The debut album by Cut Chemist boasts four solid tracks, which isn't too bad for a 12-song record. That's not to imply that the former Jurassic 5 DJ has issued a non-starter—merely to say that the Kraftwerk-like "Metrorail Through Space," the low-key dance number "What's The Attitude," the undulating rocker "Spoon" and the luminous Astrud Gilberto mash-up "The Garden" are more than substantial in style and content, and they go far beyond what one might expect of a turntablist. The last time someone stood on his decks in a similar manner and reached heavenward, we were endtroduced to frequent Chemist collaborator DJ Shadow—and judging by those four tracks, Chemist should have no trouble following in Shadow's ever-widening footsteps.
However, he misses a few steps with this debut. The album's other eight tracks, while packed with sonic pleasures and funky surprises, don't aspire to the heights achieved by the best songs. There are scratch-heavy comedy routines ("Spat," "Motivational Speaker") that are fun to listen to but don't move far beyond novelty, and spacey sci-fi numbers ("The Lift," "Storm") that don't quite seem finished. However, that's why the gods invented iTunes, and programmability. Whether you buy the album piecemeal or in whole, you owe it to yourself to get and enjoy those four great songs.
Geoff Carter
CURSIVE
HAPPY HOLLOW (2 stars)
Cursive frontman Tim Kasher lives in a world where everything sucks, where there's nothing to believe in except making lots of noise about how everything sucks and there's nothing to believe in, especially not the Wizard of Oz. Not content to shout and slobber about the evil of modern times, Kasher now wants to tell Dorothy what's wrong with Kansas and the rest of her sad, sad world. "We can't go chasing down each golden street/each and every rainbow, each passion, each unattainable goal/We're not in dreamland anymore."
There are few artists who hate imagination as much as Kasher. His songs often aren't bad, and the orchestral treatments—with guitars and horns and strings—and Kasher's rough voice (which can sound quite similar to his pal Conor Oberst's) can create powerful moments. "Flag and Family" almost sounds like Kasher's free-versing, ranting about bigotry and war in a way that makes you want to pay attention for a little while. But songs like the anti-war, anti-religion "At Conception" sound like Kasher, who obviously hates preachers, is preaching in a way that makes you not want to pay attention at all. Kasher sings about some priest and a "strange sermon he gave accepting termination due to rape." I'm not sure whether this song is anti-abortion or not, and I'll never know because I'm not listening to it again.
Andy Wang
OBIE TRICE
SECOND ROUND'S ON ME (2 1/2 stars)
As a rapper, Obie Trice is talented and well-learned—no doubt: There's a reason eminem has been an enthusiastic supporter of his from Day 1—and with his new album's first two songs, "Wake Up" and "Violent," Obie demonstrates it: flow that'll make your lip snarl, adept lyrics that would bleed if pierced and cadences in his voice both unique and lively. Consonant with hand-clapping beats provided by eminem, the first two songs are memorable takes on fundamental hip-hop.
And then the album fails. Not in that the next 15 tracks aren't any good—because some are, like Obie's collabo with Akon, "Snitch," and then with eminem himself, "There They Go"—but, rather, because at best they are mere extensions of Obie's prior work, and at worst, indistinguishable from the rest of the sterile rap genre.
For example, "Snitch" is a likeable tune, no doubt conceived and crafted to be a radio hit, for it sounds just like Akon's club smashes with Styles P and Young Jeezy, but it provides nothing distinct nor unforgettable. "There They Go" imitates the successful sound of eminem's latter two albums, but the track—like the 13 songs surrounding it—offers nothing new, nothing special, and in this way is a failure unworthy of your cash.
Joshua Longobardy
RATATAT
CLASSICS (2 stars)
Remember Hooked on Classics, the early '80s series that dumbed down classical masterpieces by transforming them into thumping dance workouts? Ratatat's second album doesn't just snag its title from that misbegotten disco curio; Classics cops a kindred musical spirit of reconditioning, albeit with slightly less perverse results.
Though New York duo Mike Stroud and evan Mast claim to have composed all 10 cuts from scratch, the disc plays like a Muzak take on pop-rock, ditching 101 strings for a loaded laptop but ultimately producing a similarly glazed-over, edge-less form of electro-rock you could very well encounter while staring up at the ceiling mid-root canal.
Initially, it all sounds brisk and sparkly, from the gusty guitar atop opener "Montanita" to the carbonated IDM touches of hilariously titled closer "Tacobel Canon." With repeated spins, though, you can't shake the feeling Ratatat has played an elaborate joke, crafting tunes so inoffensive as to appeal to everyone, yet so insipid as to make you question whether you're truly hooked on Ratatat or if your aural sensors have been duped by the odd familiarity of the whole affair.
Spencer Patterson