Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis
ITUNES MYSPACE
Veteran smart-ass flings insults
at the rich and powerful
As the sardonic crooner fronting
Britpop vets Pulp, Jarvis Cocker
fused epic, wall-of-sound pop
and barbed social commentary.
Happily, his killer solo debut
offers more of the same.
Courting trouble with wicked
glee on these luscious, mouth-
watering tunes, Cocker plays a
genteel psychopath (“I Will Kill
Again”), dissects the collapse of
Western civilization (“From
Auschwitz to Ipswich”), and
mocks mindless escapism
(“Disney Time”). Don’t miss the
hidden closer, where Cocker
shouts, “Cunts are still running
the world!” like he’s perform-
ing an exorcism. JON YOUNG

 

FROM LEFT: VICKY DAWE/COURTESY PRESS HERE; ELLIS PARRINDER/COURTESY PRESS HERE

The Fall
Reformation Post
T.L.C.
ITUNES MYSPACE
Post-punk godfather churns
out a slapdash travelogue
When bands make albums on
the road, the momentum often
infuses the results with a spec-
ial kind of energy and spon-
taneity. Or not. A pickup band
came to the aid of Mark E.
Smith and his keyboardist/wife,
Eleni Poulou, for the Fall’s 26th
studio album, recorded in Los
Angeles after the other mem-
bers bailed four gigs into their
summer ’06 U.S. tour. There are
no real highlights among these
soggy minimalist jams, except
the revealing cover of Merle
Haggard’s highway-weary
“White Line Fever.” J. NIIMI

 

Fountains of Wayne
Traffic & Weather
ITUNES MYSPACE
Now the lady at the DMV
has got it going on!
Four years after “Stacy’s Mom”
provided these power-poppers
with an unexpected Top 40 hit,
Traffic & Weather finds them
eagerly plunging into every
genre imaginable, from Euro-
disco (the buoyant opener
“Someone to Love,” a.k.a.
“Stacy’s Daughter”) to ’70s blue-
eyed pop (the Billy Joel–biting
“Strapped for Cash”). Sure, it’s a
lot to digest, but Traffic is popu-
lated by astutely observed char-
acters—the lovelorn news
anchor, the flirty DMV worker—
who are bound by their pent-up
frustrations. It’s like an alt-rock

adaptation of a John Cheever anthology. BRIAN RAFTER Y

Paula Frazer and
Tarnation
Now It’s Time ⁵
ITUNES MYSPACE
Alt-country siren wants to
creep you out, but softly
Recapturing the haunted aura of
her best work a decade ago, San
Francisco’s Frazer could be a
long-lost Carter Family member.
These lonesome, breathtaking
ballads obsess over imaginary
and missing lovers, with Frazer
sliding into sweet high trills
that suggest an undercurrent
of insanity about to bubble to
the surface. Even if her spooky
weirdness occasionally seems
contrived, the title track’s “shat-
tered and torn” emotions evoke
timeless heartache. JON YOUNG

From Autumn to
Ashes
Holding a Wolf by
the Ears ⁵
ITUNES MYSPACE
Relentless New York ragers
still howling at the moon
Of this screamo outfit’s two
original vocalists, drummer
Francis Mark was always the
one who could actually sing. So

last year, when lead growler Benjamin Perri split and Mark took over as frontman, it seemed certain that the band’s next album would be a more melodic affair. It isn’t. Instead, Mark spends most of this excellent fourth disc wrecking his vocal cords, while his mates churn out the kind of thrashcore riffs that even the most cynical metal fan could headbang along to approvingly. TREVOR KELLEY

 

Kate Havnevik
Melankton ⁵
ITUNES MYSPACE
Norwegian singer gives
new meaning to Britpop
Kate Havnevik knows about dark
times—she’s from Norway, land
of five-second summers, and
once sang backup for Britney
Spears (no joke). But her debut is
a glowing, mostly electronic set
more in line with Björk, moving
swiftly from gorgeous strings
that wail like sirens to Havnevik’s
breathy, meditative melisma.
Her harmonies sometimes recall
the synthetic edge of Imogen
Heap (“Sleepless” and “Unlike
Me”), but even if her voice has
a wintry chill, the lush arrange-
ments provide enough warmth
to get you through the night.
STACEY ANDERSON

Kate Havnevik: Will never say the words “Oops, I did it again” again
His decision
to serve and
volley proved
fatal.
Serious Fun
Witty Brits wipe smiles off their faces, for now
Kaiser Chiefs
Yours Truly,
Angry Mob ⁵
ITUNES MYSPACE

Kaiser Chiefs predicted a riot on their 2005 debut, but the perky Englishmen only had enough steam to carry the album halfway to brilliance. Now, with a heightened sense of feistiness and discontent—plus consistently improved songwriting— album No. 2 feels more substantial, especially in its most dissatisfied moments. With the antagonizing grin hinted at in its title, Yours Truly, Angry Mob marches through its baker’s dozen of punk-tinged pop songs with a prickly sense of purpose.

The Chiefs still understand immediate gratification, though. Emphatically Franz Ferdinand–like leadoff track “Ruby” drops into the over-the-top sing-along “The Angry Mob,” and together they announce the album’s alluring mood: pissed-off exuberance. The Buzzcocks-biting “Everything Is

Average Nowadays,” and its playfully dis-gruntled sneer at complacency, would’ve made a terrific album-open-ing manifesto; instead, it jump-starts the album’s back half and sets up a pretty piano ballad and the slinky “My Kind of Guy.”

Clearly, the band has learned that Ricky Wilson and Nick Hodgson’s clever lyrics (think Blur, Pulp, the occasional Morrissey sprinkle) need tight, bright pack-

They’re now capable
of making a statement
about life’s less
gleeful side.

ages. And each song—from a blistering look at public-housing boredom to a semiridiculous list of things that Wilson wishes he’d invented—gets its own well-crafted arrangement. With such sharp detail, Kaiser Chiefs have elevated themselves from a singles band to a group that’s capable of both having a laugh and making a focused statement about life’s less gleeful side. JOSH MODELL

 

W W W.SPIN.COM APRIL^{2007 25}