The Almost Southern Weather ½ ITUNES MYSPACE God-fearing sideman tones down the noisy torment On his side-project debut, drummer Aaron Gillespie works outside the boundaries of his bills-paying gig with Underoath, dropping that band’s emo-tinged Christian metal in favor of slickly produced, radio-ready rock. Throughout Southern Weather, Gillespie wails on the sort of hard-charging anthems that will probably make Switchfoot seethe with jealousy, but he also provides a few surprises, like “Dirty and Left Out,” an acoustic ballad that ends with a rather brazen shout at the big man upstairs. TREVOR KELLEY

Keren Ann Keren Ann ITUNES MYSPACE Sleepwalker or malcontent? She could be both. Dutch-Israeli singer Keren Ann Zeidel’s sad-eyed folk-pop ballads hit the brain’s late-night pleasure spot, but consuming too many at once can feel like overdosing on extrastrength cough syrup. Her third U.S. release subtly tweaks that formula, adding ambient blips, electric guitars, and even some gently up-tempo grooves. On “In Your Back,” she murmurs sweetly, “Your version of glory is dark and it’s covered with sin,” hinting at the anger that is possibly wrapped inside her dreamy melancholy. JON YOUNG

Joseph Arthur & the Lonely Astronauts Let’s Just Be ½ ITUNES MYSPACE Call him sensitive and he’ll punch you in the face Mixing his usual dark introspection with newfound animal brutality, Arthur’s latest is a sweaty, first-take orgy that sometimes suggests Tom Waits fronting the Stones, only clumsier. Sleazy puke-stained rockers like “Good Life” and “Cocaine Feet” are nasty fun; elsewhere, the grating falsetto of “Shake It Off” makes a poor advertisement for primal scream therapy. Arthur’s aggressive self-indulgence reveals its limitations on the 20-minute “Lonely Astronaut,” an unbearable eruption of guitar noise and deranged chanting. JON YOUNG

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Baby 81 ITUNES MYSPACE Transcending their leather jackets, deepening their sound Fourth albums usually aren’t peaks for bands, but these former next-big-thing drone rockers have never sounded more self-assured. The soulful edge they developed on 2005’s roots detour Howl is evident on the folky “It’s Not What You Wanted,” while a recent attraction to Britpop yields expertly crafted songs like the angry, political “Weapon of Choice” and the brooding crooner “Window.” Though singer Peter Hayes always had a heady, shades-on swagger, now he actually seems to believe what he’s singing. JASON GROSS

whose split with frontman Andy Herod was that record’s inspiration. Spells mines similar psychedelic pop territory (Herod’s lyrics trade his famous ex for bizarro nature scenes), but the hooks are stronger, the production richer, and the scale grander. AARON BURGESS

All-black attire—
still rebellious,
slimming, too

Consequence Don’t Quit Your Day Job! ITUNES MYSPACE Gifted, hard-luck rhymer still lives at home with Mom

Consequence squeezes heaps of words into his verses, has a slight lisp, and often addresses his working-class roots. Basically, he raps like Kanye West, or vice versa. It’s a shame, then, that West (head of G.O.O.D. Music) didn’t supply the former A Tribe Called Quest affiliate (and Q-Tip cousin) with more of his innovative production, since two of West’s three contributions— “The Good, the Bad, the Ugly” and “Grammy Family”— perfectly complement the rapper’s engaging flow. But nothing here approaches The College Dropout collaboration “Spaceship,” except maybe “Job Song,” on which Consequence rhymes about a callback from Banana Republic. THOMAS GOLIANOPOULOS

We’re All Doomed
Trent Reznor vs. George W. Bush—Pro Tools at 50 paces
Nine Inch Nails
Year Zero ½
ITUNES MYSPACE

Bill Callahan Woke on a Whaleheart ½ ITUNES MYSPACE The bard of indie gloom does his best to lighten the mood

Give Bill Callahan credit for knowing when to bury the Smog name: Though still anchored by his peculiar mind and baritone, Whaleheart is galaxies away from the downcast, claustrophobic songs that have defined the nomadic singer/songwriter for more than 15 years. Callahan’s not all smiles and rhinestones now, but he’s definitely succumbed to a sort of Music Row bug, using sunnier melodies and instrumentation on songs that you can almost imagine as hits for hatted-and-booted performers (“Sycamore” even has an island feel!). The change isn’t unwelcome—overcast days can be wearying—but, skirting the emotional depths that marked his past work, Callahan’s new persona feels almost shallow. JOSH MODELL

 

If anyone was worried that the disco tangents on 2005’s With Teeth meant Trent Reznor was finally lightening up, fear not—this one’s about the apocalypse.

The viral Internet marketing campaign preceding NIN’s sixth studio album suggested a sci-fi concept record about the semidistant future, but it’s pretty obvious where the inspiration comes from: “I pushed a button and elected

him to office / He pushed a button and it dropped a bomb,” Reznor sings about the neoconservative antagonist of “Capital G.”

Unfortunately, the music is more elusive. Year Zero trades With Teeth’s live instrumentation for programmed drums and synthesizers that belch and drone but won’t blow any speakers. The low-key palette creates an ominous claustrophobia that sometimes pays off (like on the glitchy ballad “In This Twilight” or the tambourine-enhanced “The Good Soldier”), but it also becomes monochromatic—

the songs drag in the middle, choruses become interchangeable, and too many tracks end with the same electronic stuttering.

Zero picks up momentum
in its final third, as the quasi
The low-key palette
creates an ominous
claustrophobia.

Cornelius Sensuous ½ ITUNES MYSPACE A thrilling kaleidoscope of relentless pop tinkering

The fifth full-length from Cornelius—a.k.a. Japanese studio whiz Keigo Oyamada— further refines the slice-and-dice approach that prompted comparisons to Beck on 2001’s Point and the 1997 breakthrough, Fantasma. With a calm kraut-rock singularity of purpose, Oyamada fuses a bristling spectrum of textures and rhythms—from the title track’s constellations of acoustic guitar to the Stereolab-on-steroids of “Gum.” Sensuous it is: an apt soundtrack for sex, staring out train windows, or traversing the Technicolor mayhem of the Shibuya district. J. NIIMI

narrative builds to a conclusion
on the slightly punchier
“God Given” and “Meet
Your Master” (spoiler: the
world ends). But it’s never a
good sign when you need to
mention Armageddon to crack
the monotony. LANE BROWN

The Comas Spells ½ ITUNES MYSPACE The staticky, swirling sounds of a disenchanted forest

Though they’ve yet to gain the visibility of the Flaming Lips or the Shins, the New York–based Comas compare favorably with both, especially in their more lovely, fuzzed-out moments. The band’s last album, 2004’s Conductor, sounded premade for a Zach Braff film and came with a DVD starring Dawson’s Creek alum Michelle Williams,

The Detroit Cobras Tied and True ½ ITUNES MYSPACE You should hope and pray that they play your party

Try to imagine a better job description than the Detroit

TAMAR LEVINE/COURTES Y IN TERSCOPE