Yo La Tengo — married couple Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan (center), plus James McNew — posts their latest excellent entry in pensive indie rock with new album “Fade.” (
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Check out new music from Yo La Tengo, Justin Timberlake, A$AP Rocky, Destiny’s Child and more!
Albums of the Week
Yo La Tengo
“Fade”
★★★
A new Yo La Tengo album not only typically brings a bounty of wistful melodies, it also offers the chance to check in on indie rock’s most unassuming couple. For decades, central members Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley have used the ups and downs of their relationship as veiled subject matter for their most touching songs, and “Fade” finds them doing it again. Kaplan’s delicate acoustic pledge of “I’ll Be Around” is a case in point, while “Cornelia and Jane” features Hubley cooing “no one knows what’s lost in your eyes” over dream-pop textures.
The couple save their last sweet salvo for the expansive closer “Before We Run,” which ends with them singing “Take me there, it’s only us” in intimate unison. Relationships (both musical and professional) are hard work, but the ever-diligent Yo La Tengo remains a great example of the potential rewards.
A$AP Rocky
“Long Live A$AP”
★★★
BEING named after one of hip-hop’s greatest MCs and touted by the music industry as a future star doesn’t seem to have fazed Rakim Mayers, a k a A$AP Rocky. The Harlemite’s rags-to-riches tales are hardly original, but Rocky tells them with sophistication and dexterity on his debut, not least on tracks such as “PMW (All I Really Need),” which finds him spitting rhymes at double-speed over a woozy, weed-inflected beat.
Moreover, Rocky’s broad tastes help him stand out from the crowd. He tackles electronic dance music on the Skrillex-produced “Wild for the Night,” drops dramatic orchestral loops on the excellent “1 Train” and even adds some classic soul vibes for closer “Suddenly.”
With this many tricks up his sleeve, it seems as though Rocky will live long indeed.
Downloads of the Week
Justin Timberlake Feat. Jay-Z
“Suit & Tie”
★★★ 1/2
JUSTIN Timberlake is back, and he brought the sexy with him. For his first song in seven years, the former NSYNC crooner offers up a honeyed falsetto and a slick R&B bounce that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on a Michael Jackson album. It’s so irresistibly catchy that Jay-Z’s mid-song rap seems like a mere token gesture. A release date for Timberlake’s new album “The 20/20 Experience” is still unspecified, but it can’t come quickly enough.
Destiny’s Child
“Nuclear”
★
SOUNDS like Beyoncé kept the limo running when she went to the studio to record this because her old group’s first new song since 2004 is a major anticlimax. Lifted from their forthcoming compilation “Love Songs” (out Jan. 29), this Pharrell Williams-produced track combines generic ’90s soul beats with atrociously bad lyrics such as “It’s nuclear/With you here.” Musical crumbs from a rich woman’s table.
Willow Smith
“Sugar and Spice”
★★★
THE bubblegum pop of Willow Smith’s hit “Whip My Hair” couldn’t be further from her new song (recently leaked online), which captures the 12-year-old elegantly singing the most melancholy of ballads over a doleful Radiohead sample. How someone so young can sing words so sad is a mystery, but Smith’s talent is obviously far greater than most could have suspected.
Jimi Hendrix
“Somewhere”
★★
A haul of unreleased Hendrix work has been compiled into the new album “People, Hell and Angels” (due March 5) and this is the first tantalizing track. Recorded with Buddy Miles and Stephen Stills, it’s based on a groove that echoes “Hey Joe” but comes to life during Hendrix’s mesmerizing guitar solos.