Twista’s ‘Day’ fiery follow-up
Twista
“The Day After” (Atlantic) ••• 1/2
After more than a decade as one of hip-hop’s most critically revered but commercially overlooked figures, rapid-fire Chicago rapper Twista became a mainstream star in 2004 thanks to the good-natured hits from his spectacular “Kamikaze” album, a masterful marriage of top-notch production and unrivaled rapping skill and style.
The trend continues on this explosive follow-up. He flows in a tag-team fashion with choice Al Green and R. Kelly samples on “Do Wrong” and “I’m a Winner,” respectively, perfectly playing off each singer’s voice as if they were recording together.
Then, on the confrontational “Heartbeat” and the smooth “Holding Down the Game,” Twista alternates between computer-enhanced voices and his normal tone, in effect facing off against himself in dazzling displays of lightning-quick delivery and more traditional rhyme styles.
When Twista teams with Pitbull on the party-starter “Hit the Floor” and with Pharrell on the sexy “Lavish,” it’s clear that the guests can’t keep pace with their gifted host.
Soren Baker, Los Angeles Times
Fiona Apple
“Extraordinary Machine” (Sony) •••
Rock ‘n’ roll drama queens tend to fall into two categories: those more adept at reaping bad publicity than doing anything interesting as musicians (a la Courtney Love) and those whose creative gifts make us overlook, or at least tolerate, their more irritating and self-destructive quirks.
Fiona Apple falls in the latter group. The 28-year-old’s long-awaited and exhaustively hyped third album could be a lost collaboration between Kurt Weill and Sylvia Plath, combining jazz, blues, folk and Tin Pan Alley nuances with artful, sometimes brutal navel-gazing.
Mike Elizondo’s sharp, brisk production helps ensure that the results are sonically seductive, from the playful title track to the deceptively catchy “tymps (the sick in the head song).”
Elysa Gardner, USA Today
My Morning Jacket
“Z” (ATO) ••• 1/2
As they refined and distilled their reverb-drenched brand of cosmic country ballads and dueling-guitar rock over the course of their first three albums, My Morning Jacket became the indie-rock band of choice for the jam band crowd and the jam band endorsed by indie rockers.
“Z,” the Louisville, Kentucky, quintet’s fourth full-length, will come as a surprise to both camps. It’s a joyful set that ventures into slinky soul backbeats, densely layered vocal harmonies and terse, immediately catchy melodies.
Even at its most compact – the 2:26 “What A Wonderful Man,” which rivals the Polyphonic Spree for giddy euphoria – “Z” makes room for bursts of heavy guitars. And Jim James’ soaring, echoing vocals link the warped blue-eyed soul of the aptly named “Wordless Chorus” to the spacey guitar jam of “Dondante.”
Steve Klinge, Philadelphia Inquirer
Various Artists
“Music from the Motion Picture: Elizabethtown” (RCA) •••
We can argue endlessly about the choices Cameron Crowe makes as a movie director, but there’s no doubting his abilities as mix master. The former rock journalist knows how to compile songs for maximum effect.
Most of his new “Elizabethtown” takes place in Kentucky, so it’s fitting that the soundtrack has an earthy, Southern theme, even if it does rather pointedly avoid bluegrass. Following “60B: Etown Theme,” a mood-setting piano piece from Mrs. Crowe (Heart’s Nancy Wilson), is a perfectly chosen Tom Petty romantic forecast called “It’ll All Work Out.”
Crowe’s jones for Elton John is satisfied by the fine “My Father’s Gun” from “Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy,” and he culled some wheat from a field of chaff with an affecting new Ryan Adams tune, “Come Pick Me Up.”
The program’s hippest excavation is the Hombres’ late ‘60s novelty hit “Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out),” which sounds like a secret collaboration between Bob Dylan and Question Mark & The Mysterians.
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press