Missy Elliott’s new single “9th Inning” is helped by guest vocals from Timbaland (right) but it’s not a walk-off hit. (Seth Browarnik/Startraks)
Albums of the Week
Green Day
“¡Uno!”
★★
EVEN when newly rehab-bound Billie Joe Armstrong keeps politics to a minimum, he’s still stuck in high school lyrically — on “Loss of Control” he even sneers that he’d “rather go to a funeral than into this high school reunion.”
“¡Uno!” is more sitcom than album: Stock situations (“I’ve got to know if you’re the one that got away,” he pleads on “Stay the Night”) and hackneyed ideas (“Life’s a gas and it’s running out” he brays on “Carpe Diem”) given high-gloss coating. And the Franz Ferdinand-aping “Kill the DJ” does this band no favors at all.
No Doubt
“Push and Shove”
★
AMAZINGLY, No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani is an even worse singer now than she was in the mid-’90s, when her irritating yip first topped the charts. These days she sounds like what she’s become — a full-time celebrity who makes records based on an accountant’s timetable rather than because she’s got anything to say on them. Everything on “Push and Shove,” the band’s first outing since 2001’s “Rock Steady” (No Doubt’s one good album) sounds freeze-dried, from the rave synths of the title song to the lazy ska of “Sparkle” to the nauseating easy-listening ballad “Easy.” And that’s not to mention all that Auto-Tune on Stefani’s vocals.
Downloads of the Week
Mumford & Sons
“I Will Wait”
★★ 1/2
THIS British folk-rock quartet sure is enthusiastic, as TV spots from the Grammys to “SNL” have proven. This upbeat devotional pledge from their second album, “Babel,” is no exception — the tune is surefire, the execution vigorous. But the whole thing seems a little too good-for-you, like unflavored oatmeal.
Kacey Musgraves
“Merry Go ’Round”
★★★ 1/2
THIS 23-year-old Texan has written songs with Miranda Lambert, and her debut single (an album is due later this year) tells of living a small-town dead end (“Mama’s hooked on Mary Kay/Brother’s hooked on Mary Jane/And daddy’s hooked on Mary, two doors down”) with Lambert’s steely eye and no-bull demeanor.
Dragonette
“Live in This City”
★★★
THIS Toronto electro-pop trio shot to public attention via “Hello,” a collaboration with dance producer Martin Solveig, but on this fun-but-insubstantial single off their third album, “Bodyparts,” they channel early-MTV new wave more than present-day raves. Buzzy tune, attitudinal vocal — Gwen Stefani should take notes.
Angie Stone
“Do What U Gotta Do”
★★ 1/2
NEO-SOUL songstress Angie Stone’s sixth album, “Rich Girl,” harkens back to the earthy, live-instrument sound of her turn-of-the-’00s albums like “Black Diamond” and “Mahogany Soul.” This first single has a luscious, stutter-stepping rhythm and liquid guitar and bass, but the groove’s more memorable than the song.
Jason Collett
“I Wanna Rob a Bank”
★★ 1/2
COLLETT is one of a few singer-songwriters (Feist is another) who make up the loose Toronto indie-rock collective Broken Social Scene. This highlight from “Reckon” sardonically calls for committing crime (“Some bank better open up them tills/I ain’t coming in to pay the bills”) over reggae-tinged roots-rock.
Bettye LaVette
“I’m Not the One”
★★
EVER think Black Keys songs might be better performed by a singer with more presence than Keys frontman Dan Auerbach? Blues vet Bettye LaVette has lots more voice, but this 2010 Keys song, from her new “Thankful N’ Thoughtful,” still isn’t much more than a pile of clichés.
Jake Owen
“Pass a Beer”
★★
THE lead track from Nashville up-and-comer Owen’s new “Endless Summer” EP is as laid-back and easygoing as country gets. As you might figure out from the title, there’s a party, and Owen and his pals are having fun: That’s about all. It’s a hard song to hate — or care about.
Deadmau5 feat. Chris James
“The Veldt”
★★
TORONTO dance DJ Joel Zimmerman bitches about other DJs (telling Rolling Stone they merely “hit a space bar”), wears an eye-catching mouse headpiece and executes limited musical ideas in fine detail. This gauzy glide from “Album Title Goes Here,” his sixth, is pretty, but doesn’t build much. The drippy, sci-fi-inspired lyric doesn’t help.
Missy Elliott feat. Timbaland
“9th Inning”
★★
ELLIOTT’S new pair of stand-alone singles (the other is “Triple Threat”) are disappointing: They sound heavy and dated, and her rhymes seem rote. But “9th Inning” is enlivened by a nutso Timba-land guest verse in which he insists on working with Lady Gaga: “Where you think your producers get their style from?”
Lupe Fiasco
“ITAL (Roses)”
★ 1/2
On this track from “Food & Liquor II,” the Chicago rapper and activist who controversially called President Obama a “terrorist” reiterates his stance (“An Iraqi with no daddy, Palestinian throwing stones/What the f – – k you think they call him?”) before vowing to “leave that all alone.” Too bad he does it over such tinny synths.