ShareThis"CONTRA," Vampire Weekend (XL)
Fickle hipsters will turn up their noses, as fickle hipsters do, but Vampire Weekend proves that its beloved 2008 self-titled debut wasn't a fluke.
"Vampire Weekend" landed on numerous alternative best-of lists for the year as the New York City band charted an innovative course, blending Paul Simon-esque world music and modern rock, projecting a preppy/anti-preppy attack on the Establishment wrapped in buoyant production.
Some of those who took to the release will feel duty-bound to reject the follow-up (it's mandatory for those with edgy tastes to hate sophomore releases), but in fact the new "Contra" shows more skill than its breakthrough predecessor. Frontman Ezra Koenig and his band mates display more self-confidence, more dexterity and more heart -- and that latter trait seals it as Koenig's sweet falsetto and kid-song cadence soften his overly self-conscious wordplay and coy quasi-political metaphors.
Meanwhile, the arrangements are even more playful than on "Vampire Weekend," if dangerously too close to the wrong kinds of (non-hip) genres like electro and pop: Despite its use of glockenspiel, the cut "Giving Up the Gun" is just a tweak away from club music and on the blissfully fluid "California English" the group dares to modulate (Auto-Tune) Koenig's voice, a la Top 40 style. And from the tribelectronica chorus of opener "Horchata" to the fluttering Kraftwerk intonations of "White Sky" to the reggae twist of penultimate track "Diplomat's Son," there's ongoing effervescence that's irresistibly endearing.
Some will find the protracted conclusion (which features an austere finale, "I Think Ur a Contra") too off-putting, and listeners can't be blamed for wondering if Koenig and company are putting them on because bands this smart often have caustic motives.
Yet taken at face value, "Contra" is fine escapism.
Rating (five possible): 4
"UNBROKEN," Katharine McPhee (Verve)
In 2006, "American Idol" contestant Katharine McPhee spread "McPhee-ver" among viewers, who propelled her to the fifth season's runner-up position (second only to Taylor Hicks). Afterward she made a modest impact on the charts with her self-titled 2007 debut release and then took a recording hiatus as she went on an acting binge, appearing on TV's "CSI: New York" and "Ugly Betty" as well as in the movie "The House Bunny."
She returns to the singing arena with "Unbroken," and although she has a bold new blond look, her "McPhee-ver" is decidedly low-grade this time around and not very infectious.
"Unbroken" is a safe move -- straightforward and competent, yet relatively colorless. McPhee makes few blunders other than recording a couple of rote songs co-penned by "Idol" judge, and songwriting hack, Kara DioGuardi. But she also takes few chances. It sounds as if she's cautiously competing on the show again, performing just well enough to make it to the next round, but not well enough to win.
In perhaps her riskiest move, McPhee admirably takes a low-key path on "Unbroken," which works especially well on the downer opener "It's Not Right," which sounds like a catchy pop ballad from the '80s, and finds McPhee milking the word "right" into seven or so syllables. And for its part, the anthemic mid-album track "How" could be a signature song for the singer.
The morose mood cracks late in the game, with McPhee adopting an optimistic tone for a drum-heavy "Lifetime" (where she sings, "This could be the moment that turns into a lifetime") and again at the end with a cover of Melanie's cutesy 1971 hit "Brand New Key." However, the singer is generally inclined to brood away -- and she gracefully does so against a backdrop of serviceable piano, acoustic guitar, strings and the like.
Yet she carries little distinction in her voice, and when the album ends, the fever breaks.
Rating: 3
"OF THE BLUE COLOUR OF THE SKY," OK Go (Capitol)
OK Go decided to "help" its listeners decipher its mayhem with a series of charts and graphs on the CD insert for its new "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky." Among the droll keys to the meaning of the release is a list of 25 themes, including No. 11, "Things that, in retrospect, proved to be wrong," and No. 14, "Women."
Humorous shtick aside (well, probably not), "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky" does seem to be a chaotic concept album of sorts: The recurrent lyrical thrust appears to reflect the ongoing torment of a stalker -- or at least the agony of someone who's not getting his love returned.
Singer Damian Kulash plays the lead role beautifully, meshing together lust, fear, anger, frustration, hope and shame in a theatrical stew while the electro-rock arrangements prod and obliterate him in confused, rumbling fits of altered-state psychedelia and massive aural freak-outs. Among the most notable inspirations are Beatles musicals and, more pointedly, a Prince influence that echoes both "Purple Rain" and "Sign o' the Times."
Fuzzbox fury and funk fuels the fittingly titled "WTF?" opener, Kulash employing his high range (his go-to range) to ponder how, "There's just this thing about you ..." His soaring, breathy delivery adds tension to the ominous "All Is Not Lost," while "Needing/Getting" hovers in boisterous electricity, periodically pushed out of limbo by a rhythmic kick. As disquieting as the over-stimulated songs are, subtler cuts penetrate the psyche, too: For example, the smoldering "I Want You So Bad I Can't Breathe" is cause for a restraining order, the watery ballad "Skyscrapers" explodes into unhinged screeching by Kulash and on closer "In the Glass," the singer looks at his reflection and exclaims, "My God, what have I done?"
Given the act's histrionic past and gimmicky videos, it would be easy to assume this is all played for show, but even so there's convincing depth, like on the touching "While You Were Asleep" plea, "Can't you love me how I want, please?," and the romantic "Last Leaf" notion, "If you should be the last seed in spring to venture out a leaf, I'll still be here waiting on the rain to warm your heart for me."
Those who adjust their expectations of popular music won't have trouble enjoying this one.
Rating: 4
(E-mail Chuck Campbell of The Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee at Campbell(at)knews.com.)
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