Artist: Pearl Jam
CD: Backspacer
Genre rock
Everybody needs to step back, take a break and lighten up sometimes -- even Pearl Jam.
Yeah, you read that right. After nearly two decades as the most earnest, serious American band in rock Eddie Vedder and Co. actually sound like they're enjoying themselves on their ninth studio set, Backspacer.
As Eddie puts it, "I wanna live my life with the volume on full."
On behalf of everyone else who's fed up with hearing about lying politicians, corporate criminals and endless war, allow me to say, Thanks, dude. It's about time. ****
Artist Two Hours traffic
CD territory
Genre pop-rock
Their last disc netted them a Polaris Prize nom. So you might expect these P.E.I. power-popsters to stick to their Sloanish guns for this third Joel Plaskett-produced album.
But along with the chiming guitar-rock sprints that are their signature, they expand their horizons into Wilco-ish terrain with moodier melodies and more thoughtful lyrics. They shoulda titled it New Territory.
Download: Territory, Weightless One ***1/2
Artist os mutantes
CD haihor
amortecedor
Genre psychedelic-rock
To paraphrase Hunter S. Thompson: When the going gets weird, the weird get it together.
Some 35 years after their last record, these Brazilian oddballs, led by singer-guitarist Sergio Dias Baptista, are back -- and armed with a playfully idiosyncratic trick bag of hip-swivelling psychedelia dosed with Zappaesque dementia and piercing Santana-style six-string solos. Excelente.
Download: Querida Querida, 2000 e Agarrum ****1/2
Artist jamie t
CD Kings & Queens
Genre brit-pop
Despite earning a Mercury Prize nom for his 2007 debut, Panic Prevention, Wimbledon upstart Jamie Treays' bratty collision of punk, folk and rap didn't win many fans on these shores.
Maybe this followup will do the trick; it retains the messy appeal and laddish wit of its predecessor, but downplays the hip-hop and lo-fi esthetic for a bigger Brit-rock vibe. Give him a chance.
Download: Sticks 'N' Stones, Chaka Demus ****
