Albums of the Week
Janelle Monáe
“The Electric Lady” ★★★½
In a recent interview, Janelle Monáe said, with a surprising amount of seriousness, that she was a “time traveler.” Listening to her second album, it’s a claim that seems perfectly plausible due to the way that almost every track on “The Electric Lady” touches on a different area of music history to create a vivid vision of the future.
Conceptually based around the experiences of her android alter-ego Cindi Mayweather from her earlier work, Monáe tries her hand at everything from the Hendrix-esque rock ’n’ roll on “Give ’Em What They Love” to the Sly Stone funk of “Q.U.E.E.N.,” right through to the Philly soul styling of the glistening “It’s Code.” Incomparable in scope and inspiring in its execution, this is undoubtedly a new high-water mark in the evolution of R&B.
Arctic Monkeys
“AM” ★★★
It’s always dangerous to presume a songwriter is writing about himself all the time but on Arctic Monkeys’ fifth album, frontman Alex Turner sounds like a man in search of some serious action. Much of “AM” finds him singing about late night hookups and booty calls. And on the soulful closing track “I Wanna Be Yours,” he vocalizes his desires with lines such as “I wanna be your vacuum cleaner/Breathing in your dirt” that tread the uncomfortable line between seducer and stalker. The lusty wordplay is not all there is to admire. The band also distances itself from the tired Britpop tag by firing out monster riffs and even manages to incorporate a surprising gangsta-rap feel on “Arabella” and “Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?” It’s gloriously grown-up stuff all around.
Downloads of the Week
2 Chainz Feat. Fergie
“Netflix” ★★½
On his new album “B.O.A.T.S. II: Me Time,” Atlanta’s 2 Chainz certainly makes his fondness for intercourse known. But on this track in particular, the sex talk gets entertainingly absurd. “Let’s make a sextape/And put it on Netflix,” he raps as Fergie coos back at him. Guess that’s one way to win the war against Hulu.
Coldplay
“Atlas” ★½
The great thing about being a band as big as Coldplay is that you can phone in facsimile versions of your hits and hawk them to movie soundtracks for megabucks. That certainly seems to have happened with “Atlas” (written especially for “Hunger Games: Catching Fire”). Echoing the lilting piano sound and spacey atmospherics of some of their earlier works, it’s the sound of Chris Martin singing for his supper and little else.
Celine Dion
“Loved Me Back to Life” Zero stars
She’s back. And she’s discovered electronic music. The power-balladry that the Canadian singer is known for gets a dusting of dubstep-light but is essentially still the same old histrionics with more of Dion’s unbearable warbling. Beware: Her first English language album since 2007 arrives in November.
The Weekend
“Belong to the World” ★★½
Abel Tesfaye (a k a the Weeknd) has become an underground R&B star mainly for the way he croons like a horny Michael Jackson. On his first full studio album, “Kiss Land,” it’s something he sticks with resolutely but “Belong to the World” breaks the slow-jam overkill by employing scattershot beats and sending this Canadian into more invigorating territory.
Pixies
“Andro Queen” ★★★
The Boston alt-rockers continue their comeback with a four-track EP released via their Web site. Of all the songs, it’s the lead track “Andro Queen” that shows the Pixies haven’t lost their ability to reconstitute surf-guitars and Beach Boys melodies into something that is completely their own, and completely wonderful. Keep it coming, guys.