Sleater-Kinney rocks into new territory

Sleater-Kinney

“The Woods” (Sub Pop)••• 1/2

Even without a bass player, Portland’s Sleater-Kinney has the requisite tools to rock you like a hurricane.

Carrie Brownstein is a bona-fide guitar hero with a trick bag of incendiary riffs and snarling licks, Janet Weiss is a bone-crunching drummer, and Corin Tucker’s caterwauling could stop Robert Plant dead in his tracks.

On a series of excellent albums dating back to 1994’s “Call the Doctor,” the ladies of S-K have distinguished themselves as one of the fiercest bands in indie-land. But with “The Woods,” the power trio makes its preceding work seem like just so much pussyfooting around.

They go fearlessly into the deep, dark woods of adulthood in songs that are as thorny, and challenging, as the subject matter at hand, whether it’s relationships as hand-to-hand combat (“Let’s go to the mat,” Tucker sings on “Let’s Call It Love”) or the artist’s quandary about whether to placate or push an audience (“Entertain”).

“The Woods” opts for the latter, trading in the punky perkiness of previous S-K albums (“Dig Me Out,” “One Beat”) for a slower, rawer attack that’s just as rewarding – and a whole lot louder.

Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer

Kem

“Album II” (Motown/Pgd) •• 1/2

Who says they don’t make R&B for grown-ups anymore? On this follow-up to last year’s slow-building breakthrough, “Kemistry,” Kem serves up contemporary soul so sleek and subdued that it can make Seal and Brian McKnight sound like teen rebels in comparison.

Kem’s fluid, sensual singing is a welcome alternative to the flashy Stevie Wonder wannabes duking it out on youth-oriented urban formats. Sultry tracks such as “I’m in Love” and the groove-driven “I Get Lifted,” which evokes George Benson, allow him more dynamic range.

Still, quiet storms don’t get much calmer than this.

Elysa Gardner, USA Today

Shelby Lynne

“Suit Yourself” (Capitol) ••• 1/2

With 2003’s “Identity Crisis,” Shelby Lynne offered an unadorned, unaffected set of acoustic Southern soul that proved she didn’t need either the glossy production of 2000’s lush, Grammy-winning “I Am Shelby Lynne” or the genre-hopping concepts of her earlier countrypolitan and western-swing albums.

“Suit Yourself” is essentially “Identity Crisis,” part two, and that’s just fine, thanks.

Leading a restrained band that includes members of the Wallflowers and Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers, Lynne mixes melancholy contemplations (the heartbreaking “I Cry Everyday”), upbeat ditties (the minute-long “You and We”) and emotionally frank narratives (the elegy for the Cashes, “When Johnny Met June”).

Although “Go With It” opens the album with a burst of rootsy electric guitars, “Suit Yourself” concentrates on late-night acoustic ballads and keeps the focus where it belongs – on Lynne’s smoky, soulful voice.

Steve Klinge, Philadelphia Inquirer

The Wallflowers

“Rebel, Sweetheart” (Interscope) •••

It’s been almost a decade since Jakob Dylan was the exciting new kid on the block. Such evocative, ‘70s-flavored pop-rock tunes as “One Headlight” helped the Wallflowers’ “Bringing Down the Horse” album sell some 4 million copies and earn two Grammys.

Sales and attention for Bob Dylan’s son have dropped off considerably since then – a development that could sap the will of a performer, especially one carrying the weight of his family tradition. Yet the best moments of “Rebel, Sweetheart” show that Dylan is writing better than ever.

Like many of his tunes, the especially seductive “The Passenger” tries to make sense of crazy times. The delicate “How Far You’ve Come” is a pep talk that could be addressed to himself, a loved one or the country.

Not everything in the album speaks as clearly or as profoundly as these tunes, and the arrangements tend to be somewhat anonymous at times. But Dylan’s images are sharper than ever and his vision more focused.

He’s no longer the new kid on the block, but he has never sounded more vital.

Robert Hilburn, Los Angeles Times

Various artists

“American Idol Season 4: The Showstoppers” (RCA) ••

Television and record industry executives’ favorite forum for exploiting tender talent presents a collection of karaoke covers that, however well-executed, reveal nothing about the personalities or emotions of the eager-to-please crooners delivering them.

Newly crowned winner Carrie Underwood offers an impressive Martina McBride impersonation on “Independence Day,” and Nadia Turner shows similar technical prowess on “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me.”

Maybe these songbirds will land in the hands of producers more willing and able to nurture them as distinctive voices.

Elysa Gardner, USA Today