[Blues-Rock]
The Black Keys
Attack & Release
****
Endlessly refreshing your browser for news of that long-rumored, much-denied Led Zeppelin tour? Pass the time more productively by picking up the new album from The Black Keys, the rare outfit whose raging blues-rock actually approaches ’69-era Zep. And with half as many musicians, no less.
Actually, that last bit is only partially true of Attack & Release, the fifth album from Akron, Ohio-based guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney. This time, the pair are joined by de facto third member Danger Mouse, the producer du jour behind The Grey Album and Gnarls Barkley. Strange collabo, huh? Makes about as much sense as dousing a perfect steak in chipotle mayo or dumping Vitamin Water into a glass of beer.
Yet, to the Mouse’s credit, the odd team-up not only works, but also livens up the Keys’ bare-bones sound with a palatable pizzazz missing from 2006’s Magic Potion. Though it’s difficult to know whether artist or producer asked for eerie organ on “All You Ever Wanted,” old-timey banjo on “Psychotic Girl” or Tull-ish flute on “Same Old Thing,” the instrumental blend and more complex arrangements practically scream out, “Danger!” And there can be little doubt about who conceived of the layered synths on hard-driving first single “Strange Times” or the spaghetti-Western electronics for slow dirge “Remember When (Side A).”
Though a tad short at 39 minutes, Attack & Release stands as one of the year’s most satisfying efforts—one that could even make you stop yearning to see Plant and Page in a stadium and start scouring the ’net for chances to spy Auerbach and Carney in a club. –Spencer Patterson
[Dance Rock]
The B-52s
Funplex
*** 1/2
Funplex—the first studio album by kitschy new-wave innovators The B-52s since 1992’s Good Stuff—is much better than it has any right to be. The Athens, Georgia, quartet sounds comfortable mixing its trademark scorching guitars and go-go tempos with modern electronic touches, without losing the knack for pop hooks that made songs such as “Rock Lobster” and “Love Shack” timeless.
The high-energy rave-up “Pump” bounces along with B-movie surf licks; “Love in the Year 3000” matches futuristic Daft Punk-style whooshes with cheeky musings about futuristic “space-love in zero gravity”; and the album’s synth-rockin’ title track depicts the sort of zany outer-space mall the Jetsons might frequent. Highlight “Juliet of the Spirits,” which sounds like Madonna’s William Orbit/Mirwais-collaborating days, is even better, mainly because Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson harmonize like dreamy sirens. Still, a few songs—“Hot Corner” and “Ultraviolet”—drag considerably, while the constant nods to sci-fi silliness and sly double entendres can grow tiresome. (And Fred Schneider shrieking, “I’m a fully eroticized being! No more neuroses!” in his nasally yelp is somewhat disturbing.)
But Funplex is fun, cheesy and danceable; in short, everything one expects a B-52s record should be. In fact, it’s exactly the album you would expect the band to make in 2008, and that alone makes it a roaring success. –Annie Zaleski
[Southern Rap]
Rick Ross
Trilla
** 1/2
With T.I. under house arrest, Lil Wayne about to implode and Soulja Boy near his expiration date (one hopes), Miami’s Rick Ross can make a credible claim as the king of southern rap right now. After all, his 2006 debut, Port of Miami, went platinum, practically Thriller numbers in today’s climate.
That album introduced his deep, inelegant flow and stable of famous collaborators, and Trilla features more of the same, although this time guests like Mannie Fresh and Jay-Z tend to overshadow him. The former raps and produces a Cash Money-style beat on “All I Have in This World,” in which we learn Ross has a 20-disc CD changer (ooh), many cars and “Japanese denim with money stuffed in ’em.”
Though largely monotonous, Trilla boasts a few winners, including the DJ Toomp-produced “This Me” and J.R. Rotem’s “The Boss”—never mind that Ross had a song called “Boss” on his last CD and that, without T-Pain’s mechanical wail and Rotem’s spooky, dramatic beat, there’s really not much of a song. Ross is adept at rhyming his name with his self-selected job title, and for an album which is the musical equivalent of fast food, that’s sometimes enough. –Ben Westhoff