Tricky echoes his breakthrough work of the 1990s on his 10th album, “False Idols,” with slow burn hip-hop beats. (SplashNews)
Covering his own 1969 song, John Fogerty, with the Foo Fighters, seems to have run out of luck on “Fortunate Son.” (Amy E. Price/Getty Images)
British singer-songwriter Laura Marling (left) delivers with spare folk songs on her fourth album. (
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Albums of the Week
Laura Marling
“Once I Was an Eagle”
★★★
BRITISH singer-songwriter Laura Marling gets no points for originality — from Joni Mitchell to Fiona Apple, her influences are obvious. What matters is whether it’s executed well, and that’s the case with “Once I Was an Eagle,” the 23-year-old’s fourth album since 2008.
Not everything is equally substantial — the record could have easily lost some of its 64-minute running time — but Marling’s smart delivery and the spare, arresting arrangements of songs such as the jazz-tinged “Little Bird” put it all over. And she finishes on a high note with “Saved These Words,” which slyly mocks Alanis Morissette: “Thank you, naïveté, for failing me again.”
Tricky
“False Idols”
★★★
SINCE his first three acclaimed albums in the mid-’90s, it’s been easy to forget British downtempo producer-MC Tricky is still recording. But “False Idols,” his 10th album, is the best since then.
He still mines slow, barren hip-hop beats with occasional vocal samples for hooks, as on “Valentine,” which samples Chet Baker’s “My Funny Valentine,” a move that would have been obvious even in 1995. But it works with the song — and songwriting is the album’s strength, along with grooves that stick.
The occasional rock guitar — often Tricky’s worst habit; see 2001’s awful “Blowback” — sounds comfortable, too, as on “Parenthesis.”
Downloads of the Week
John Fogerty Feat. Foo Fighters
“Fortunate Son”
★
JOHN Fogerty’s new album is all remakes of old songs well-known to fans — and it’s as pointless as you’d guess, as this version of his greatest Creedence Clearwater Revival number makes plain. There’s lots of unnecessary guitar soloing, the revved tempo turns it to boring mall-punk and Fogerty’s voice has seldom sounded worse.
When Saints Go Machine Feat. Killer Mike
“Love and Respect”
★★
A pop fixture for two decades, rock-rap team-ups have become so commonplace as to be blasé. This Scandinavian indie group’s collaboration with Atlanta-based underground hip-hop star Killer Mike is notable for how seamless it is — which, in this case, means that it’s listenable but not very memorable.
Bastille
“Pompeii”
★★
THIS new four-piece English band is selling like crazy in its home country. This lead track from their debut four-song EP, “Haunt,” is catchy in a wan, “Glee”-like manner, as singer-songwriter Dan Smith asks, “If you close your eyes, doesn’t it feel like you’ve been here before?” Yes — it was called Coldplay.
K. Michelle
“V.S.O.P.”
★★ 1/2
“LOVE and Hip-Hop Atlanta” reality-TV starK. Michelle has long been an R&B connoisseur’s favorite, thanks to numerous singles and mixtapes. This orchestra-laden taste from her first real album, “Rebellious Soul,” out late July, is bombastic and dramatic, with the singer busting a gut over an impending evening of romance.
Mount Kimbie
“Made To Stray”
★★ 1/2
THIS single from the British dance duo’s second album, “Cold Spring Fault Less Youth,” takes a while to get going — DJ-focused tracks can be like that. But this plaintive, sing-song tune (sung by the duo’s Dominic Maker) emerges from the foggy beats and atmosphere like a beacon.