Downloads of the Week
Benjamin Booker
“Chippewa”
★★★
This blues-rock wunderkind from New Orleans shows he’s worth the hype on his self-titled debut album.
“Chippewa,” in particular, combines the 22-year-old’s rasping riffs and vocals with a glorious, R & B stomp that kicks up the southern dirt so convincingly, you can almost taste it. The Black Keys comparisons are inevitable, but Booker has a rough-and-ready grit that is all his own.
Michael Cera
“Ruth”
★★
That’s right, Michael Cera. The Peter Pan of Hollywood snuck out a folky solo album called “true that” quietly on the Bandcamp Web site last week.
Most of the tracks are instrumental, but the delicate “Ruth” captures Cera’s endearingly scratchy voice and wistful lyrics in way that’s annoyingly charming — just like Cera himself, basically.
Kimbra
“Madhouse”
★★★
It would be a minor tragedy if Kimbra didn’t get more credit than just for being the girl who sang on Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know.”
The New Zealander’s second solo album “The Golden Echo” is filled with vibrant pop-funk magic, like this album cut which recalls Prince from his all-conquering “Sign O’ The Times” era.
If “Madhouse” had Pharrell Williams’ name on it, it’d be a hit. Kimbra deserves at least some of that success.
Fat White Family
“Auto Neutron”
★★★
London trash-punks Fat White Family have a penchant for the provocative (their album is called “Champagne Holocaust”), but they can also write wickedly entertaining songs.
“Auto Neutron” brings together the druggy eeriness of Spacemen 3 and the unhinged mania of the Cramps for a moment of unsettling greatness.
Electric Wurms
“Deformed in the Future”
★★ ½
The Flaming Lips delve even deeper into their wildest prog-rock fantasies with their new EP “Musik Die Schwer zu Twerk,” released under the Electric Wurms guise.
Don’t let the title put you off, because “Deformed in the Future” is probably the easiest of the six tracks to approach, thanks to the childlike melody that hides in the swirl of robotic rhythms and jerking guitar jolts. It’s not easy listening, but the effort is worth it.
Midge Ure
“Become”
★★ ½
The former Ultravox singer might not be the most celebrated of ’80s New Wave survivors — but what he lacks in credibility he makes up in talent.
This highlight from new album “Fragile” encapsulates his ability to weave a great song into an atmospheric, electro-backdrop. It won’t set the charts alight, but after all these years, the Scot is still proving himself as a fine craftsman.
Wiz Khalifa
“True Colors”
★★
Another day, another Nicki Minaj guest spot. But she does at least liven up Khalifa’s fifth album “Blacc Hollywood,” which finds the Pittsburgh rapper sounding bored, for the most part.
At least on the more reflective “True Colors,” he musters up something akin to genuine emotion, even if it’s only prompted by his fondness for smoking weed and having money.
Warning: Explicit content