Arctic Monkeys
Whatever People Think I Am, That's What I'm Not (2 stars)
It's hard not to be dubious of a band that shattered UK sales records by moving more than 360,000 units the week of its release, including nearly 120,000 copies in just the first 24 hours. Even more ominously, writers for London-based music 'zine NME voted the Arctic Monkeys' debut the fifth-best British album of all time—ahead of anything by the Beatles, Stones, Who, Clash or Joy Division—before the disc had even been officially issued.
Sure enough, a few spins through Whatever People Think I Am, That's What I'm Not reveals the Sheffield quartet's brand of fidgety indie-punk to be entertaining but far from revelatory. For every memorable, urgent cut such as "The View From the Afternoon" or "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor," there are three clunkers.
Brash frontman Alex Turner cops some Julian Casablancas grittiness, but who really needs to hear some 20-year-old romanticize his adventures chasing women and getting tossed from pubs? Regardless of what British scribes think, rock's been there plenty of times before, with far better results.
In Flames
Come Clarity (3.5 stars)
Given how uncompromising their eighth album, Come Clarity, is, it's particularly ironic that In Flames have been accused of selling out by a segment of hard-core heavy metal fans. The groundbreaking Swedish band may not be playing exactly the same melodic death metal that they started out with, but Come Clarity is in no way a concession to the mainstream. Lead single and opening track "Take This Life" starts with a blast of double-bass drums and lightning fast guitars that should immediately get naysayers to shut the hell up.
The great thing about In Flames is that "Take This Life" then segues into a chorus as catchy as anything a generic hard rock band has gotten onto the radio in the last year, and does so without sacrificing any of the heaviness at the beginning of the song. The rest of the album is a similarly seamless blend of brutal metal and melodic beauty, making room for a guest spot from Swedish pop star Lisa Miskovsky ("Dead End") and even an atmospheric power ballad (the title track) alongside plenty of punishing rhythms and thick riffage. That's not the sound of selling out.
Steve Porter
Porterhouse (3 stars)
It's been a year since Boston's Steve Porter released his debut artist album, Homegrown. His combination of producer and DJ skills earned the 14-track album rave reviews from a lot of critcs; little surprise given that Porter has played alongside such greats as DJs Sasha and Sander Kleinenberg, and had his tracks used by other luminaries such as Felix da Housecat, Mark Farina, Carl Cox and Paul van Dyk.
He named his style Porterhouse, and whether confidence or hubris, has given the same name to his first mix compliation.
Porter has stated that Porterhouse is a "no rules, no borders" approach to dance, but it's hard to see any daring in the 26 tracks (don't worry about overdosing; some are barely more than 1 minute and most come in around the 3- or 4-minute mark). That's not to say this offering of techno-dance music isn't good, but there's not much there that's breaking rules or crossing borders.
It's a relentless disc and highly danceable, but Porter should've spent less time going through his friends' submissions and more time pushing boundaries.
Dilated Peoples
20/20 (4 stars)
"This Way," the Kanye West-produced banger on Neighborhood Watch, Dilated People's 2004 attempt to break out of the underground hip-hop box, gave the Los Angeles trio (Rakaa, Evidence and DJ Babu) the most mainstream attention of its decade-long hip-hop sojourn. So, on the next album, DP faced choices:
A). Risk alienating die-hard fans by completely embracing the mainstream, i.e., low-voltage lyricism; superstar producers on every track; sugary hooks; uninspiring (or worse) show-stealing verses from Billboard-charting rappers.
B). Continue subsisting on the boom-bap beats and the at-times boastful/politically conscious/circumspect lyrics that has made DP one of the few rarely seen-on-BET-or-MTV hip-hoppers to land (and keep) major-label backing (Capitol Records) without becoming bona-fide stars.
C). Master the difficult two-step of successfully traversing both worlds (The Roots arguably did this the best, followed by Jurassic Five) hoping to satiate everyon, while alienating no one.
On 20/20, DP chose A and B. As rapped on "Olde English": "BMI, EMI, gimme all that/a side deal with who? Where I sign at?" MTV Jams is backing their latest tour. But don't fret, DP's still funny—count the references to weed—and full of acerbic commentary. "Firepower" skewers the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, urging listeners to use weapons either for self-defense or revolution.
The lyricism is still there, too. "You Can't Hide, You Can't Run" bangs with sharp beats and Ginsu lyrics: "Grappler, spectacular, rap for sport or altercation/in self-defense, we hem them up for tailored alteration/We're fire starters, leaving stages up in flames/then again, we're firefighters spraying at whatever's blazing."