Check out new music from Skrillex, Broadcast, Pulp and more.
Albums of the Week
Skrillex
“Leaving”
★★ 1/2
CONSIDERING that Skrillex became America’s biggest dance act by making bass-heavy dubstep that blares and crunches like rock, this three-song EP is an intriguing sidestep. Instead of another banger like “Bangarang,” “Leaving” is softer and more reflective.
Slowly the old guy comes out: “The Reason” has the drive of the Chemical Brothers, only with all synths and no guitars, and “Scary Bolly Dub” is a lot closer to the stuff Skrillex made his name on. But even that one lays back a bit. What do you know — he’s maturing.
Broadcast
“Berberian Sound Studio”
★★
THE cult-favorite British chamber-rock duo Broadcast had its career cut sadly short when vocalist Trish Keenan died of pneumonia in January 2011. It makes sense that their final album is actually a soundtrack, for director Peter Strickland’s critically acclaimed movie-about-a-movie “Berberian Sound Studio.”
It’s instrumental (with snippets of dialogue) and bitty, with 39 tracks that last an average of a minute apiece. Taken together, they weave an odd, sometimes spooky, sometimes plain lovely spell.
Downloads of the Week
James Brown and 2Pac
“Unchained”
★★★
IT’S hard to go wrong with two proven commodities, and this mash-up — sanctioned for Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” — holds up rather well as its own entity, rather than simply making you wish to hear 2Pac’s “Untouchable” or James Brown’s “The Payback” on their own.
Azealia Banks
“No Problems”
★★★ 1/2
THE young Harlem rapper’s debut album keeps being delayed (apparently it’s due in February now), but as long she keeps leaking terrific tracks on her SoundCloud page, it’s hard to complain. Case in point: this collaboration with ex-Brooklynite (now living in Berlin) Machinedrum, whose alternately delicate and bruising electronic textures match the rapper’s lyrics.
Pulp
“After You”
★★★
THE Britpop masters recently concluded their reunion tour, but they leaked this gift on Christmas Day — a stylish, chugging disco-rocker, produced by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, with vocalist Jarvis Cocker still sighing and growling about seedy glamour and wanton lust.
Conor Maynard Feat. Ne-Yo
“Turn Around”
★★
LOOK — Ne-Yo found a protégé on YouTube, a British kid with a voice very similar to his own. This single from Conor Maynard’s debut album, “Contrast,” is peppier than the club-ready stuff from Ne-Yo’s latest album, “R.E.D.” It aspires to be an anthem but feels too empty for the job.