Albums of the Week
Skylar Grey
“Don’t Look Down”
★★ 1/2
A backroom songwriter who co-wrote Eminem and Rihanna’s “Love the Way You Lie” and recorded in the mid-2000s as Holly Brook, Skylar Grey’s debut under that name is full of big, splashy hooks. They can sound hollow, like “C’mon Let Me Ride,” a silly promise of oral sex. (Eminem’s surprisingly crafty guest verse is the highlight.) But the occasional misfire aside, the R&B-leaning pop rocker knows how to write a hook — especially on “Wear Me Out,” which compares a lover to old jeans, and the plain-spoken “S – – t, Man!,” about an accidental pregnancy: “We’re gonna need a bigger house/We’ve got a lot to figure out.”
Freddie Gibbs
“ESGN — Evil Seeds Grown Naturally”
★★
GARY, Ind., rapper Freddie Gibbs blew up with mixtapes that crossed over to the indie-rock audience, but he’s remained resolute about his style. He makes slow-rolling, slurry hip-hop — sometimes hypnotic, sometimes boring — and handles the usual boasting (“Lay It Down”) and drug-dealer tales (“Have U Seen Her,” featuring Hit Skrewface) with a touch more flair than usual. “ESGN,” his first album, is a bit too claustrophobic to get fully comfortable with. With the exception of “Have U Seen Her,” which is both brutal and delicate, the tracks are so slow-and-low, they run together. Such uniformity is part of the point, but it also hinders things.
Downloads of the Week
Elton John
“Home Again”
★★
ELTON John frequently swears his next album will be a return to his early-’70s basics, then makes the same old thing again. But this teaser from September’s “The Diving Board” really does hearken back — piano and voice, with very light embellishment. The song is just OK, though, with a predictably retrospective lyric.
Beck
“Won’t Be Long”
★★ 1/2
LAST year Beck put out an “album” that consisted entirely of sheet music. But he’s back to actually recording with the recent song “Defriended” and this new 12-inch and digital single. It’s medium-tempo and quietly melancholy: The title chorus nags at you enjoyably, though it’s slight.
Ciara Feat. Nicki Minaj
“I’m Out”
★★ 1/2
NO song that begins with a command to “get your sexy on” can ever fully recover. Still, the beat of this one (from Ciara’s self-titled new album) is springy, and guest star Minaj states the theme (time to leave that jerk) briskly and succinctly; the R&B singer then elaborates.
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Colette Carr
“Nilly”
★★
WHITE female rappers — suddenly they’re everywhere. This is from “Skitszo,” Carr’s debut studio album, and while the lyrics and flow are ultra-basic, that works in its favor. This is because the song’s real star is its hard drum-machine beat, alternately stomping and stark, which could support nearly anything.