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The fourth album from singer-songwriter José James smolders with R&B, soul and jazz but doesn’t quite catch fire. (
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Albums of the Week

José James

“No Beginning No End”

★★

THE New York R&B-jazz singer-songwriter’s fourth album (and first for Blue Note) may be a little too aptly titled — it’s a slow burner, but it’s so deliberately laid out that it never actually seems to catch fire. James has a handsome, husky voice whose phrasing is more early Lou Rawls than D’Angelo or Marvin Gaye — he’s a jazzman before he’s a soul man, so if you prefer the latter to the former, consider yourself warned. But if you really need a follow-up to “Voodoo,” which despite recent appearances D’Angelo doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to provide, this is worth investigating.

Bad Religion

“True North”

★ 1/2

IF you want utterly basic, meat-and-potatoes-with-minimal-garnish punk rock, look no further than the 16th album by Los Angeles longtimers Bad Religion. Greg Graffin has never had much of a voice, and advancing age isn’t helping any, and it’s noticeable even when the band revs the tempo, as on the minute-long hardcore stomp “Vanity” or “Land of Endless Greed.” Better those than the bathetic slow tempo of “Hello Cruel World,” an early candidate for 2013’s worst song: “Hello cruel world/Don’t you know that you’re killing me?/And I don’t mind/But I could use a little sympathy.” Not after this.

Downloads of the Week

A$AP Ferg

“Work”

★★

WITH a No. 1 debut, A$AP Rocky HA$ now watched two related ACT$ — the group A$AP Mob and $OLO rapper A$AP Ferg — attract major-label bidding WAR$. The latter’s freestanding leak “Work” ADD$ little charm or presence to the BA$IC formula — $LOW-rolling BEAT$ and smug BOA$T$ (“I’ll be out tomorrow/My lawyer’s Jewish”).

Aaron Neville

“Ting a Ling”

★ 1/2

AN apparently ageless New Orleans falsetto king, Aaron Neville’s twinkling voice is seldom charmless. On this forgettable stroll though a Clovers number from the new covers album “My True Story,” he comes close. It’s a deliberately relaxed rhythm that drags the beat, but there’s no color to the arrangement or performance.

Toro y Moi

“Say That”

★★

SOUTH Carolina singer-songwriter-producer Chaz Bundick rarely raises his voice above a pinched murmur, but his third album of lo-fi synth-pop, “Anything in Return,” is his most tuneful. The memorable part of “Say That” isn’t Bundick’s bleh vocals, but a nagging, repetitive background vocal sample of a woman singing random syllables.

Darius Rucker

“Wagon Wheel”

★ 1/2

THE Hootie & the Blowfish frontman-turned-country star’s new single — from his forthcoming album, “True Believers,” his third since going full-on Nashville — is breezy enough to pass by barely unnoticed. It’s about embracing the South (“Running from the cold up in New England/I was born to be a fiddler in an old-time string band”), but it doesn’t grip

FaltyDL Feat. Ed Macfarlane

“She Sleeps”

★★★

“HARDCOURAGE,” the third album by Brooklyn dance producer Drew Lustman — a k a FaltyDL — is often frosty and frequently gorgeous, and this number, featuring the singer from England’s Friendly Fires, represents it nicely. Macfarlane’s haunted Brit-soul falsetto complements the layered synths and shuffling rhythm — like a more indie take on Usher’s “Climax.”

The Night Marchers

“All Hits”

★★½

SAN DIEGO  garage-rocker John Reis plays raw enough to make Jack White sound like he’s going dubstep. “All Hits,” from his band’s second album, “Allez Allez,” is a manifesto masquerading as a boast: “Every hair that I split, every song that I s - - t: It’s all hits!” He’s kidding, but not really.