|
 Spring
Fever
Some
of the best bets for the coming season—and a few to bet against
By
John Brodeur
The
Breeders
Mountain
Battles (4AD)
After 2002’s Title TK, there was no where to go but
up for the Breeders. Not to say it was a bad record (it wasn’t),
but it was mournful and petulant and undoubtedly a stretch
for those expecting another Last Splash. This time,
when things get weird—and they do, frequently—you don’t come
away wondering, “Is she going to hurt herself?” With Mountain
Battles (out April 8), the Deal sisters, with bassist
Mando Lopez and drummer Jose Medeles (the first time the same
rhythm section has played on consecutive Breeders records),
bring the joy back to their discombobulated pop, completing
what might be the most compelling four-album, 20-year arc
in music. Some of their most beautiful performances are here,
including a spectral version of Latin ballad “Regalame Esta
Noche,” and Kim Deal sounds like she’s singing through an
ear-to-ear grin. This thing’s got more layers than Deal’s
relationship with Black  Francis,
and it gets better with each listen.
Black
Tide
Light
from Above (Interscope)
Feel the hand of God—or could it be . . . Satan?—pick you
up from your chair and set you down in the passenger side
of an ’82 Trans Am. Fronted by 15-year-old Gabriel Garcia,
Miami’s Black Tide mine the riffs and shreds of everyone from
Megadeth and Metallica to Skid Row and Slaughter (“Shout”
is half “Youth Gone Wild” and half “Up All Night”) on their
just-released debut disc, and really, who better to produce
one of the better classic metal albums in years than a bunch
of adolescents? After all, the guys in Metallica (whose very
first song, “Hit the Lights,” gets a tastefully rushed pass
here) were about 11 years old when they made Kill ’Em All.
I believe the children are our future, and our future is freakin’
awesome.
Eric
Avery
 Help
Wanted (Dangerbird)
It’s been 17 years since he walked away from Jane’s Addiction,
but time is a nonissue for Eric Avery. In fact, Avery’s first
solo release feels mostly like a follow-up to Deconstruction,
his underheard 1994 collaboration with Dave Navarro (and the
best post-Jane’s spinoff). Help Wanted, out April 8,
is a fever dream of sonics, dark and atmospheric and disorienting,
but tethered by Avery’s inward-gazing lyrics (and tenuous
relationship with pitch) and dotted with just enough guest
appearances (Flea, Shirley Manson, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor
Hawkins) to keep the project from becoming a purely solipsistic
affair. This is for a long drive for someone with nothing
to think about; drugs optional.
The
Kyle Sowashes
Yeah
Buddy! (We Want Action)
Nerf
Herder
Nerf
Herder IV (Oglio)
 Banking
on a geek-rock revival, are we? Both of these bands attempt
to tread the fine line between clever and stupid, but the
results couldn’t be further apart: The Kyle Sowashes temper
their quirky streak (two versions of “Yr Band Flaked Out on
Me”) with some sharp, Superchunk-y guitar pop—meaning, it’s
not gonna burn up the charts, but at least it sounds like
it was fun to make. But fire up the confetti cannon: Nerf
Herder have reunited! Their latest steaming pile (IV,
as if anyone was keeping count, due out April 29) actually
makes me wish Blink-182 were still around. That makes my head
hurt, and so does this: “(Stand by Your) Manatee.” Are you
shitting me?
Snoop
Dogg
Ego
Trippin’ (DoggyStyle/Geffen)
Whether or not he was trying to make his own Late Registration,
Snoop has his best record in a Dogg’s age here, for two reasons:
“Sexual Eruption” (you probably know it as “Sensual Seduction”)
and, surprisingly, a majority of the other 22 tracks. Dozens
of producers are on board (including your captain, Teddy Riley),
and the jams run the gamut: Snoop’s love of vintage funk turns
up throughout, most notably on “Deez Hollywood Nights”; Rick
Rock chops and screws “Staxxx in My Jeans”; the Neptunes’
bring their inimitable style to “Sets Up.” There are missteps—the
chipmunk chorus on “Those Gurlz” is straight 2001 Kanye, and
they could have easily dropped four  songs—but
the experiments, including a country song (really!) and a
cover of the Time’s 1982 Prince-penned single “Cool,” are
priceless.
Ed
Harcourt
The
Beautiful Lie (Dovecote)
It’s
frustrating how a performer as gifted as Ed Harcourt can slip
through the cracks. Since his critically lauded, Mercury prize-nominated
2001 release, Here Be Monsters, Harcourt has turned
out another three albums of remarkable depth, but you wouldn’t
know if you weren’t tuned in. The Beautiful Lie, which
finally sees U.S. release on June 3, two years after its release
overseas, only serves to bolster a quiet legacy. It’s about
escaping deep into Harcourt’s alternate universe, where every
melody is timeless. The creativity overflows, from the handmade
pop of “Visit from the Dead Dog” to the gamboling circus waltz
“Scatterbraine.” The ballads ring of a more self-aware (and
very much alive) Jeff Buckley, while “Revolution in the Heart”
is an anthem of optimism, of fighting the world’s ills with
a song. It’s a bright-eyed notion, but Harcourt writes the
kind of tunes that might actually get the job done.
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