Dance trio Swedish House Mafia turns in an uninspiring album ahead of their US tour, which has been selling out. (AP)
Albums of the Week
Taylor Swift
“Red”
★★ 1/2
THERE’S a more pronounced ache in Swift’s voice on “Red”: She’s at pains to prove she isn’t a kid anymore, from updating 2008’s “Fifteen” with the delicious “22” (in which she goes to a party with “too many cokeheads”) to going low and throaty on “I Almost Do” and “All Too Well.” Swift’s fourth album is a big tent, aiming to please her tween fans as well as older listeners. It occasionally misfires — see the awkward dubstep blare of “I Knew You Were Trouble” — and at more than an hour it’s too long, but these songs grow on you with time.
Swedish House Mafia
“Until Now”
★
THIS dance trio from Stockholm (Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello) sold out Madison Square Garden in minutes last December, and tickets for most of the shows on their upcoming, final-ever (so they say) US tour went just as fast. Maybe it’s because their hooks are so big and obvious you could only miss them if you were a vegetable. Listening to this DJ-blended collection of recent singles (featuring the likes of Pharrell and Ryan Tedder) and remixes (Coldplay) is like getting hit repeatedly over the head with a Day-Glo whiffle-ball bat. The opening number, “Greyhound,” sets the tone with far more style than anything else here manages.
Downloads of the Week
Gary Clark Jr.
“Ain’t Messin’ ’Round”
★★★
THIS young bluesman is getting a big publicity push, and the ’60s-soul-flavored lead cut from his debut album, “Blak and Blu,” lives up to the hype. Clark’s guitar playing — his biggest selling point — isn’t featured here so much as his soulful singing and a chugging, swaying horn chart.
Pig Destroyer
“Burning Palm”
★★ 1/2
VIRGINIA’S — and America’s — greatest grindcore band plays the sharpest, most shredding metal imaginable. “Burning Palm,” from their fifth album, “Book Burner,” isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea. But it’s insanely, impressively wound up — and oh boy, will it wake you up in the morning.
Kendrick Lamar
“Swimming Pools (Drank)”
★★ 1/2
ON the first single from his debut, “Good Kid, m.A.A.d City,” this LA-based Dr. Dre protégé raps about a “pool full of liquor” around which he and some women “play ‘Baywatch.’ ” Producer T-Minus’ languid, bubbly synths have a nicely-above-it-all feel, as does Lamar, and it lingers longer than you’d think.
Bat for Lashes
“Laura”
★★
THE leadoff single from “The Haunted Man,” album No. 3 from British singer-songwriter Natasha Khan’s recording alias, is pensive, dramatic and lyrically stale. “You’re more than a superstar,” croons Khan to her object of affection, but if you feel like you’ve heard it all before, and done better, you have.
Titus Andronicus
“In a Big City”
★ 1/2
THIS epic-minded New Jersey indie-rock quintet has scaled things back slightly on its third album, “Local Business”: it’s 50 minutes rather than 65. But their likably rangy style and Patrick Stickles’ 2 1/2-sheets-to-the-wind verbiage remain intact on this ode to feeling out of place. Too bad it sounds dishwater gray.